Govt should aid Ndejje and UCU with tartan

I SAY SO | COMMENTARY

Uganda's performance at the just-concluded World Athletics Tour meeting in Nairobi underlined the need for government support.

The state will have to step out and ensure that her elite runners in the future don't rely on one facility.

Our athletes competed without proper training simply because our only standard facility- Namboole was inaccessible because of being used as a Covid-19 center.

Amidst all this, it is the athlete who is affected. The latest of such scenarios is the disadvantage Ugandan athletes are finding themselves internationally.

Ugandan athletes have therefore had to train on makeshift tracks and roads thereby not only hampering form but also boosting injury.

This has rendered us disadvantaged when it gets to racing on tartan internationally this season.

True, Joshua Cheptegei has stood out with a world record, but how sure are you he couldn't have even done better with proper facilities.

Shida Leni, who as a sprinter needed tartan preparation, even more, was also quite impressive in Nairobi at the Kipchoge Keino Classic on Saturday.

She finished fourth in the 200 and third in the 400 meters but I am sure this multiple national record-breaking athletes could have with proper training also won in Nairobi.

We surely can do better. The government should aid institutions like Ndejje, UCU, and Makerere universities, which despite investing in standard tracks, still lack tartan.

We wouldn't be cursing today if we had multiple alternatives to Namboole.

Our neighbours Kenya have modern tartan grounds in  Nyayo and Kasarani in the capital Nairobi on top of an equally modern facility in Eldoret.

It is specifically for that reason that they won the bid to host the lucrative World Athletics Tour at the weekend.

Algeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Morocco are also not African giants by accident. They also have modern facilities spread out countrywide.

If our athletes had regularly trained on standard facilities this season, we would toasting to big cash prizes from the respective meets.

Let's use Ndejje, UCU, and Makerere as pilot initiatives in this venture and our athletics particularly the sprints could be revolutionized.

We surely can churn out more John Akii-Bua and Davis Kamogas.