Athletes will have to dig into their pockets

CORONAVIRUS & SPORTS

KAMPALA - State Minister for Sports Denis Hamson Obua has called upon athletes to start using part of their savings to survive during this coronavirus outbreak.

This comes after different athletes pleaded for Government support.

"Athletes should now use their savings to support themselves since at the moment all the money has been channeled to fight coronavirus," said the minister.

"So I cannot promise them anything, since if government was to do that even other sectors would ask for support to bail them out."

The likes of Halima Nakaayi, Winnie Nanyondo and kick-boxer Patricia Apolot recently appealed for Government support.

According to Obua, the Government has prioritized payments of salaries for its employees. He advised clubs and federations to do the same to their respective athletes.

Since President Yoweri Museveni issued the directive that froze all sports besides other activities that involve mass gathering of people, many of the athletes have been praying for the situation to normalise since most of them are paid through funds generated from gate collections and selling club merchandise, among other sources.

Since most clubs and federations are not realising the above funds, players are worried that it might take long before they get any pay.

The situation is even worse for Uganda Premier League soccer sides like SC Villa and Onduparaka, where players are demanding pay arrears.

Afrigo Band member Moses Matovu is among the few people who have came out to bail out cash-strapped Villa with some funding recently.