Kenya orders junior athletes to hand over passports

NAIROBI, Aug 25 (Reuters) Kenya's Minister for Sport Maina Kamanda said today he had ordered junior athletes to hand over their passports to the country's athletics body.

''I have ordered that Athletics Kenya take and keep passports of all the junior athletes who were at the World Junior Championships in Beijing to protect them from exploitation,'' Kamanda told Reuters.

''It has come to my notice that junior athletes are exposed to exploitation by unscrupulous agents, who woo them from school and race them abroad without regard to their education,'' said Kamanda.

The athletics board would return the passports to any athletes seeking to travel during school holidays but only after their destination had been confirmed, he added.

Athletics Kenya Secretary General David Okeyo confirmed he had taken all the junior athletes' passports and would abide by the minister's order.

Kenyan juniors won the overall title at the World Championships and received almost 185,000 dollar as a reward from the government.

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