02/09/2026
OPENING GATEBALL “gates” TO AFRICA COUNTRIES
As part of continued GATEBALL sport development, an online meeting was held on 28th August co-ordinated from Kenya and which brought together the following member countries;
1. Ivory Coast
2. Ghana
3. Uganda
4. Kenya - Secretariat
New Countries introducing GATEBALL and who were added to Group WhatsApp;
5. Benin
6. Togo
The saying "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together" never truer! The 1-hour session was informative, engaging and the social networking aspect crowned it all.
Conversations centered around inter-alia;
(a) Each country to ensure registration and compliance with government regulations to ensure GATEBALL is legally registered and relevant certification issued. The meeting did acknowledge the red-tape and bureaucracy in achieving this in most African countries. We shall keep trying!!
(b) Each country to continue promoting GATEBALL sport locally and organically.
(c) In coming months to have Regional gateball tournaments as a way of building awareness about the sport and exploring areas of partnership and collaboration with corporates, Embassies and relevant government ministries;
i. E.A. Gateball Championship {Kenya vs Uganda} in Uganda
ii. West Africa Gateball Championship – to be co-ordinated by Ivory Coast and which will rope in Ghana, Benin and Togo.
The common challenges across the Africa member countries include;
a. Access to Gateball Equipment (New and/or 2nd hand) that would trigger greater interest
b. Technical support – coaching and refereeing – which would require a structured engagement through the global federation (World Gateball Union- WGU)
c. Financial support – being a very new sport in Africa, the idea of exploring partnerships and collaborations with Japanese ( and other actively playing member countries globally) companies to develop marketing strategies of products/services in Africa through Gateball Sport is on the table.
Beyond Sports, GATEBALL being a cross-generational sport can be the “glue” that “fuels” community conversations around social impact, school physical education curriculum, wellness (physical, social and mental) and to marketers “route to market!” path.
We shall be having monthly online meetings just to keep the connect and the synergy. Unfortunately, Mr. Keiichi Imagawa, World Gateball Union (WGU) president couldn’t join us as had been planned earlier. God willing he shall make it next meeting.
We are opening GATEBALL “gates” in Africa; passing through a gate at a time!
Ubuntu!
Kevin Kibe
President: Kenya Gateball Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
