Pretoria venue for Birungi's record bid

By James Bakama Grace Birungi will aim for a faster first lap, if she is to break Edith Nakiyingi's 11-year old national 800m record tonight. Birungi had an explosive start to the season last Friday, clocking two minutes 01.54 seconds-her second fastest 800m time- to finish second at the Roodepoort Grand Prix in South Africa. In that race, Birungi had to make up a lot of ground on the leaders in the last lap. An improvement in her first 400 metres will surely put her in position to improve her time, and break Nakiyingi's national record of 2 min 00.88 sec. Birungi will not only be chasing the national record, but a fast enough time to attract the attention of her promoter Ulf Saletti. If Birungi can run a fast time it will allow her promoter Saletti get her into bigger races in Europe, where the season begins in late May. Up to now, Birungi has only been able to gain entry to a relatively small number of Grand Prix meetings, and not at all to the highest athletics stage - the Golden League. The Pretoria race, the biggest race of her 3-meeting South African tour, is an IAAF Grand Prix 2. Two of the World top sprinters - Ato Boldon of Trinadad and the legendary Merlene Ottey of Jamaica will be competing. Speaking from Sweden, Saletti said:" Her(Grace's) main rivals in Pretoria will be (last) Friday's winner, the rapidly improving Agnes Samaria of Namibia and the top Russians, Olga Raspopova and Marina Anisimova. The Russians under-performed in Roodepoort, but now they will be more acclimitised and will give Grace a tougher challenge." r Uganda's junior men's team to the World Cross-country Championships in Belgium this weekend missed their Wednesday night Sabena flight and now leave this morning. The team comprises of Paul Wakou, Francis Yiga, Tony Okello, Moses Mpanga and Francis Musani. The boys won a bronze medal last year. Ends