Qatar to host nations with defecting athletes
RISING athletics powerhouse Qatar is hosting a series of IAAF council meetings in the next three days, with the transfer of allegiance of athletes from one member federation to another among the top subjects.<br>
By Norman Katende
and Paul Mbuga
RISING athletics powerhouse Qatar is hosting a series of IAAF council meetings in the next three days, with the transfer of allegiance of athletes from one member federation to another among the top subjects.
According to a release from the world governing body IAAF, the meetings in Doha should resolve several contentious issues including the ‘false start’ and change of nationalities.
Uganda is one of the countries that have been hit by the petro-dollar power of Qatar, that has snatched Patrick Cheboto (now Mustafa Ahmed Shebto) and several Kenyans that have shifted the balance of power in world athletics.
Kenyan reject Stephen Cherono (Shaheen Saif Saaeed) has gone on to embarrass his nation of birth by rewriting the world steeplechase record and winning the world championship.
According to Uganda Athletics Federation secretary Beatrice Ayikoru, Cheboto disappeared after the world half marathon in 2002 and re-emerged with a letter from Qatar appealing to change his citizenship.
“We refused until 2004 when he reached the mandatory age of 18. We pleaded with him with the help of then sports state minister Henry Okello Oryem but to no avail,†said Ayikoru.
“There are no rules in Uganda that deny him to change his citizenship, so we failed to halt the move,†she added.
The young boy’s parents in Kapchorwa and guardian Mwanga Kityo, a police officer from Mbarara, did not help matters when on May 16, 2004 they wrote to both UAF and the ministry in charge of sports, saying they had no objection.
UAF had earlier convinced Boniface Kiprop and Martin Toroitich from changing. The two had spent six months in Qatar.
and Paul Mbuga
RISING athletics powerhouse Qatar is hosting a series of IAAF council meetings in the next three days, with the transfer of allegiance of athletes from one member federation to another among the top subjects.
According to a release from the world governing body IAAF, the meetings in Doha should resolve several contentious issues including the ‘false start’ and change of nationalities.
Uganda is one of the countries that have been hit by the petro-dollar power of Qatar, that has snatched Patrick Cheboto (now Mustafa Ahmed Shebto) and several Kenyans that have shifted the balance of power in world athletics.
Kenyan reject Stephen Cherono (Shaheen Saif Saaeed) has gone on to embarrass his nation of birth by rewriting the world steeplechase record and winning the world championship.
According to Uganda Athletics Federation secretary Beatrice Ayikoru, Cheboto disappeared after the world half marathon in 2002 and re-emerged with a letter from Qatar appealing to change his citizenship.
“We refused until 2004 when he reached the mandatory age of 18. We pleaded with him with the help of then sports state minister Henry Okello Oryem but to no avail,†said Ayikoru.
“There are no rules in Uganda that deny him to change his citizenship, so we failed to halt the move,†she added.
The young boy’s parents in Kapchorwa and guardian Mwanga Kityo, a police officer from Mbarara, did not help matters when on May 16, 2004 they wrote to both UAF and the ministry in charge of sports, saying they had no objection.
UAF had earlier convinced Boniface Kiprop and Martin Toroitich from changing. The two had spent six months in Qatar.