In a statement posted on its website last week, British Athletics indicated that its athletes will be focusing their energies on qualifying for the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in Bahamas’ capital Nassau.

The five-day Games is scheduled to begin on July 19, three days after the completion of the IAAF World Under-18 Championships in Kenya’s capital.

Tuwei says he does not see a reason why Britain cannot compete at both events in the same way Kenya and other nations intend to do.

"We have so many countries who will participate in both in the Commonwealth Games and the Under-18 World Championships in Nairobi hence they can prepare and do both," he told Kenyan newspaper The Star.

Tuwei said preparations for the IAAF World Under-18 Championships are in top gear and expects many countries to compete at the event.

"We have invited all members of IAAF and we expect most of the countries to attend," he added.

Tuwei admitted, however, that participation is voluntary and there is little Kenya can do as hosts to compel countries that don’t want to attend to do so.

Next year’s Championships are the last-ever world level youth competition after the IAAF decided they would work with Area Associations to find a more appropriate competition structure for assisting the career development of athletes in the under-18 age group category.

"With events such as the newly-launched European Youth Championships in Tbilisi in 2016, opportunities at area-level competition for the youth age group are being further developed," British Athletics said in its statement.

The statement came less than two weeks after IAAF President Sebastian Coe and British Athletics reportedly said they would send a team to Nairobi.

According to the Daily Nation, Coe and British Athletics officials met Tuwei on the sidelines of the 2016 IAAF Athletics Awards in Monte Carlo, where they pledged their support for the event.

Last week, a new deadline of March 2017 was introduced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for fresh elections to be held by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) after a failure to meet an initial December timeframe.

In a letter addressed to NOCK President Kipchoge Keino and Kenyan Sports Minister Hassan Wario, the IOC admitted it was "extremely regrettable" that no substantial progress has been made so far.

They directed NOCK to formally convene an Extraordinary General Assembly by the end of January 2017 or the beginning of February in order to approve proposed constitutional changes.