FORMER Harambee Stars coaches Mohammed Kheri and Twahir Muhiddin have been named to oversee the selection of six outstanding players from Airtel Rising Stars programme for the Manchester United Camp. The two will lead a panel of other coaches in selection of the players during the Kenya Secondary Schools Term 2B Games next week in Mombasa.

Reigning champions Gekomoni, last year's runners-up Tononoka, former champions Kakamega High and St. Anthony's start favourites in boys' football. Airtel Kenya communications director Dick Omondi said they have decided to raise the profile of the 'Airtel Rising Stars' national finals by increasing training opportunities for Kenyan players. "These camps offer an invaluable experience and a lifetime opportunity for our budding talent to interact early with trainers from a world-class team. The tactics and lessons learnt will definitely propel these boys and girls to the world stage at the onset of their football careers," he said.

Part of the action at the nationals will be aired on DSTV. Under the agreement, DSTV will broadcast select matches from Airtel Rising Stars events across Africa as a way of exposing talent at the junior level. "We expect the standards to be very high this time. The level of skill exhibited at the provincial level coupled with the incentives put forth by Airtel promise to make the nationals very competitive," said the Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) secretary David Ngugi.

The girls football will feature Olympic, Ibinzo, Tartar and Gataragwa. Other provincial representatives include Chogoria and Kobala. Last year's final held in Nairobi saw the selection of four students-Naim Ashraf (Nairobi Milimani High), Naomi Njeri (Matuu Memorial), Emily Auma (Jera) and Ali Rama (Tononoka)- for the Man United Camp. This year's games will run from August 7 to 11 at Shimo la Tewa High School and Shanzu Teachers College with volleyball and lawn tennis also part of the five-day event.