The Tokyo 2025 Summer Deaflympics will take place from November 15 to 26, with Kenya competing in five disciplines - athletics, swimming, golf, women’s basketball and men’s handball.
The recent victories on the fairways nestled by the 33-year-old hard hitter has buoyed Makokha ahead of his second appearance on the global stage, where his main objective is to strike gold.
The Vet Lab Sports Club player will represent Kenya at the Tokyo showpiece alongside the experienced duo of Adan Wario and Gilbert Alikula, and teenage sensation Jacinta Njeri, who will be making her debut in Tokyo.
With less than two weeks remaining until the start of the Games, the Kenyan team has been fine-tuning its preparations at various golf clubs across Nairobi. Speaking after the team’s training at Vet Lab Sports Club, Makokha said he is on fire and can’t wait for the Deaflympics to start.
‘I will convert Brazil bronze to gold in Tokyo’
“I have practised well. I feel my body is in shape, I’m optimistic I will convert that bronze from Brazil into gold when I head to Tokyo,” Makokha said.
By clinching the bronze medal at the Deaflympics held in Brazil, the father of one made history as the first Kenyan deaf golfer to ever win a medal in the Games. Makokha won the bronze medal by beating German Guldan Nico by two ups. He lost to German John Allen, who went on to win the gold medal.
Makokha said he took several lessons from the Brazil showpiece, which he has since worked on, hence his confidence to bag a gold medal this time around. He is exuding confidence to beat Allen in Tokyo.
“Allen is a strong opponent but I’m ready to face him head-on. I can manage to knock him out this time, because my body is on fire,” he asserted.
To qualify for the Tokyo Deaflympics, Makokha beat 15 other local deaf golfers in several Strokeplay and matchplay championships.
He singled out his triumph at the 2025 NCBA Railway Invitation Golf Tournament in September as one of the achievements that fuels his confidence of a good showing in Tokyo. In that tournament, Makokha floored able-bodied golfers, including title holder Michael Karanga.
“I have participated in several tournaments and I have won several medals and trophies. The golfers in the ongoing Sunshine Development Tour- East Africa Swing Series where I also take part are very strong, I have learnt a lot from them, and with tha,t it has prepared me for Tokyo,” he said, singling out his strength and flexibility as some of the areas he is fine-tuning on.
Makokha has pointed out the lack of equipment as one of the main challenges he is grappling with in the trade.
Team Kenya deaf golf coach David Kihara tipped Makokha to shine in Tokyo, saying: “He has trained very well, competed in several tough tournaments and I think this time around he is ready to bring us something bigger than the bronze medal.”
When is the 2025 Summer Deaflympics?
The 2025 Summer Deaflympics, officially known as the 25th Summer Deaflympics or XXV Summer Deaflympics, is an international multi-sport event that is scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan, from November 15th to November 26th.
The multi-sport event would also commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Deaflympics, as the inaugural edition was kicked off in 1924.
This will be the first instance where Japan will be hosting the Summer Deaflympics in the history of the competition, and it will mark the return of another Olympic-style multi-sport event in Japan since the beginning of the 2020s after the Pacific nation staged both the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics.
It marks the third instance where an Asian nation has been given the hosting rights of the Summer Deaflympics after Taiwan (2009) and Turkey (2017). The event returns to its usual four-year cycle, after the 2021 Summer Deaflympics was postponed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
