NAIROBI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- A fortnight after Kenya wrapped up her best Olympic performance ever, winning a total 14 medals, the Kenyan Paralympics team will later this week be on parade at the same venue of the 2008 Beijing Games.

    The performance which saw Kenya emerge number 15 overall and the best in Africa with 14 medals, five gold, five silver and four bronze, is the best ever since the country debuted in the Olympic Games 52 years ago.

    However, unlike their able-bodied counterparts whose exemplary performance was expected even before their departure, expectations are low among Kenyans for the Paralympics team.

    "The same team that represented Kenya in All Africa Games in Algiers last year has been recycled to carry the country's flag in Beijing. This is a mockery to sports," chairman of the Nairobi Province Paraplegic Association Dennis Muga told Xinhua in an interview.

    The reason for the low anticipation has everything to do with a chain of wrangles that have dogged the Kenya Paraplegic Association, the body that runs affair of paraplegics in the country.

    So deep have been the squabbles that the association did not hold trials to select the team to the Beijing Games.

    "I don't expect good performance because the athletes rested on their laurels after it became clear that there would not be any trials to select the team," Muga said.

    Despite the low expectations, a team of 13 Paralympics competitors and five running guides left the country last week for Beijing to take part in the Games scheduled to start on Sept. 7 in China.

    The overall team coach, James Voga, however expressed optimism, saying the athletes were ready for the big challenge in Beijing.

    "I expect the players to win more medals for Kenya than the Olympics team that arrived last week," Voga, an American national, said before his departure. "We did it in Athens, we are capable of doing it again."

    Voga had spent a fortnight with the team. He is in the country for the first time, although his association with the team goes back to the 2000 Sydney Paralympics. At the time, he was one of the U.S. team coaches.

    "When I saw Henry Wanyoike training at the Olympics Village in Sydney, I told my athletes and other coaches that he was going to take the gold medal in the 10,000 meters," said Voga. "At the time no one knew Wanyoike."

    The contingent consists of star studded athletes among them 2004Paralympics 10,000 and 5,000m gold medallist and world record holder, Wanyoike, the 2002 paraplegic games Javelin gold medallist Mary Nakhumicha.

    Also featuring on the athletic list are Nelly Munyalo who earned a bronze medal in the 2006 Netherlands Paraplegic Games, Abraham Tarbet who won a gold medal in the 2007 All African Games held in Algiers and Henry Kirwa who was second in the 2007 International Paralympics Sports Association held in San Paulo Games.

    Wanyoike expressed optimism the team will perform well in Beijing for the 13th edition of the Summer Paralympic Games.

    Wanyoike who is also the captain of the Kenyan team said the team is well focused to emulate their counterparts who bagged a total of 14 medals at the just concluded Beijing Olympics.

    Wanyoike told Xinhua that he had an uphill task to register good results in Beijing this time round as he will be competing in three disciplinesnamely 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon.

    "You wait for our return, you will see how many medals we will carry," said Wanjoike.

    He said the Paralympics team will go for nothing less than wins in their disciplines.

    But despite the high expectations from the officials and Paralympics athletes, other officials said lack of exposure and coordination will affect the team's performance in Beijing.

    "Maybe a miracle will happen but I don't expect anything from our Paralympics team in Beijing because the team was handpicked and there were not trials to pick the best time," said Dominick Wakaya, a sports fan.

    Chairman of the Kenya Paralympics team Douglas Sidialo said he was confident that the 13 competitors will deliver because of their past track record adding that government and corporate support would spur them on.

    "We had 16 athletes training here but only 13 are going to make it to Beijing because using the IPC minimum qualification standards Kenya qualified ten men and three women but the quota the IPC gave was nine male and three female plus a power lifter," Sidialo said.