Doubts surrounded the participation of almost half the Kenyan cross country team in this weekend's World championships at Leopardstown after it emerged that they had not received visas.
The Kenya Amateur Athletics Association (KAAA) secretary David Okeyo said today that 17 of the 36 strong team failed to secure visas for their trip to Ireland from the Irish consulate in Nairobi.
The team, which completed its three-week high altitude training in Embu today is expected to leave for Dublin tomorrow.
But Okeyo said the Irish consulate in Nairobi had not issued visas to 17 members of the team, despite having applied for the documentation on February 27th.
"We had already paid 500,000 Kenyan shillings (about 6,400 dollars) for the visas, which cost 7,500 shillings per athletes. It is very sad that this should happen at the last minute to us, as the defending champions," Okeyo said.
Athletes who are yet to receive visas include two former junior champions Rose Cheruiyot and Leah Malot.
Okeyo said he was worried that the athletes may not travel to Dublin.
AFP