Since it’s inception in 2014 FINA has delivered scholarships to athletes via the “FINA Scholarships Programme” in an effort to help athletes reach the top levels in sport. The results of the Rio Olympic Games and the 2015 World Championships in Kazan served as justification for the organization that the program has been successful.
Ben Ekumbo, chairman of the Kenya Swimming Federation, was recently accused of forwarding the application after the application process had already been closed causing concern over his conduct. FINA originally sent out the announcement for the scholarship applications on the seventh of September with the deadline being September 25th, however, the KSF reportedly waited to release the letter until September 29th.
The speculation as to why the application letters were sent after the deadline had already passed is that “the Federation might have already selected those who will benefit from the scholarship as they did with the team that represented Kenya in the Olympics.”
According to ZwewmZa Swim News not all athletes who have been chosen for the scholarships have received their money, however. Swimmer Issa Abdalla was originally awarded a scholarship by FINA last January, but has yet to receive any of his monthly stipends. His father, Abdalla Hemed, explained to ZwemZa that “every day we are told to change the application and forward to KSF, we have always done that but after that they go silent on us, we sent the latest application just the other day and no one has spoken to us.”
Hemed added that management of the scholarships “has been very bad, they think we are fighting them but all we want is a good management and a good environment for our children.”
Read more about the questions surrounding FINA scholarships and the Kenya Swimming Foundation here.
Issa Lance
Jon Rudd