Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala has broken his silence after Athletics Kenya claimed that he is responsible for his own visa delay issue that almost made him miss out on the World Athletic Championships in Oregon, USA.
Through a statement, Omanyala called upon people to stop pointing fingers, noting that the ministry of sports through CS Amina Mohamed was of great help to him.
“Like I said, there is no one to blame for my visa delay. We all as athletes went for the visa interviews to the embassy. After that I was sent supplementary questions that needed clarification. But on Thursday, a day before my race, my visa was not out.
“It was through the government’s intervention through the ministry of sports and Athletics Kenya that I got my visa. In fact, the ministry of sports through Amb Amina were very instrumental in my visa being granted once the issue was raised,” Omanyala made his point clear.
Earlier this week, Athletics Kenya released a statement detailing Omanyala’s mistake that almost cost his appearance at the Oregon championships.
“It is important to mention that Ferdinand Omanyala went for Visa Biometrics at the Embassy of the United States in Nairobi on July 7, 2022, alongside other athletes. The rest were issued their visas 2 days later while Omanyala’s passport was not released. When we enquired why, we were informed that he needed to fill in an additional form referred to as supplementary questions for visa applicants to verify some facts,” part of the statement by AK’s president Jacjson Tuwei read.
Omanyala participated in the heat 7 of the 100m race in Oregon and qualified for the semis.
Even though he did not make it to the finals of the competition, Omanyala was positive and looked forward to the common wealth games that are set to commence on July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, London.
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