UOC prepares for 2016 Rio Olympics

Feb 09, 2016

In 2012 part of Uganda’s team at the Olympics was among the worst dressed a

Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) president William Blick says his ready to fight tooth and nail just to make sure Uganda's contingent at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games is smart and well prepared for the event.

In 2012 part of Uganda's team at the Olympics was among the worst dressed after majority of the athletes received their kit months on return from London, an incident that Blick says was the worst humiliation and needed to be fixed this year.

"I don't know whether it was an issue of insufficient funds or just an incompetent kit provider but the Ugandan team looked disorganised at the previous Olympics," Blick said at the annual general assembly held on Saturday at Lugogo.

He added, "We want to avoid late preparations and shame like it was at the previous games. We have already secured a kit sponsor and we are also planning to launch a fundraising drive anytime this month where we expect to raise funds to cater for the Ugandan team."

UOC has a projected expenditure budget of about sh136m to be spent on the Olympics team ahead of the event scheduled for August.

Blick applauded his team for the tremendous work that has seen Uganda elevated from Group E to the International Olympic Committee, Group B priority nations following proper accountability records from the previous season.

They are now searching for about sh1.7b to fund all projected programmes in the year 2016. These include funding the Olympic team, clearing administrative costs and organising Olympic solidarity projects.

Early list of athletes to Rio An early list of qualified athletes for the Rio Olympic Games includes, Stephen Kiprotich, Solomon Mutai, Jackson Kiprop, Abraham Kiplimo, Alex Chesakit, Joshua Cheptegei, Timothy Toroitich, Moses Kibet and Adero Nyakisi in athletics.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});