Veteran French rowing coach Claude Yessad has predicted that Kenyan para-rower Asiya Sururu will secure a medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, set to take place from August 28 to September 8.
Yessad, who, along with two other French coaches, worked with Sururu during her two-week training camp in Compiegne, made the remarks after her final session there on Wednesday. Sururu will soon move to the Paris Games village in preparation for the event.
Team Kenya is scheduled to travel to Paris on Thursday (today) and check into the village to get ready for the Games.
On Wednesday, the SNC Aviron Rowing Club hosted a farewell party for Sururu and her coach, Mirriam Amakobe Nandwa, where they wished her success and promised to support her during 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.
