BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
Veteran French rowing coach Claude Yessad has tipped Kenyan para-rower Asiya Sururu to finish in the medal bracket at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games scheduled from on August 28 to September 8 in the French capital.
Yessad, who led a team of three French coaches in polishing up Sururu during her two-weeks camp in Compiegne, was speaking after her final training session in Compiegne on Wednesday before moving to Paris Games village.
Team Kenya is expected to travel to Paris Thursday and check in into the village in readiness for the Games.
Wednesday, the SNC Aviron Rowing Club organised a farewell party for Sururu and her coach Mirriam Amakobe Nandwa where they wished her well and promised to attend her competitive sessions on August 30 in Paris.
“We were asked to host Asiya and we gladly welcomed the offer and I can attest that it was a wonderful experience interacting with this team. “Asiya has improved tremendously since the first time she came here and I predict a podium finish from her. She was improving every day and that’s exceptional heading to the Games,” said Yessad, who also doubles up as the club president.
He added: “We were working with a team of three coaches, myself, Noel and Henry and we shared her daily performance and programme as well as the areas that needed to be improved, on email and we made sure they were addressed, so we are sure she is well polished now and we wish her well.”
Sururu was excited with the gesture and thanked all the coaches for their support and promised to make them proud.
“My two weeks in Compiegne has been very helpful for me and I want to thank the coaches, Claude, Noel and Henry for their technical and training support, I have learnt a lot, for instance I used to do short strokes when I arrived and I was told to try long strokes and they are working pretty well for me. I have been learning new things here everyday and I plan to put my training into use when the action begins in Paris,” Sururu said.
Kenya Para-rowing coach Mirriam Nandwa described the training camp in Compiegne as a wonderful thought and has also tipped Sururu to make an impact during the Games.
“When we came here, Asiya used to clock 14 minutes in her 2 kilometers rowing, but it slowly dropped to 13 minutes, then 12 minutes and we are now at 11 minutes approaching 10 minutes. So I can say she has greatly improved technically and we are confident of a medal at the Games,” Nandwa said.
