40 athletes shortlisted for Commonwealth Games

Commonwealth Games (April 4-15, 2018) 

Uganda Athletics Federation has drawn up a tentative list of 40 athletes from whom a final team will be drawn to compete at next April's Commonwealth Games. 

Conspicuously missing from the list are field athletes, once again underlining the country's deficiency on that front.

On the other hand the group includes sprinters as opposed to last month's IAAF World Championships where Uganda fielded long distance runners only. 

All Team Uganda members who were in London for the World Athletics Championships have been included on the list which will be scaled down later.  

World 10,000m silver medallist Joshua Cheptegei is on the list alongside former world and Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich who skipped the London event. 

Seasoned athletics coach Absolom Ojwang attributed Uganda's underwhelming performances in field events to the absence of specialised coaches. He also cited lack of equipment. 

"It's not unusual to go to a district and you don't find a single javelin! So how do you expect a coach to train athletes without equipment," wondered Ojwang.  

Uganda will also field a netball team for the first time in the Commonwealth Games. The She Cranes qualified in June after winning the Africa Netball Championships in Kampala. 

The selected athletes