Moses Kipsiro was the best athlete in 2010 by a mile. With the two gold medals he won at the Common wealth Games in October and the World Cross-country bronze, Kipsiro should simply walk away with the Athlete of the Year award for the fourth straight time.The awards ceremony, usually organised by Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF), is due early next year. Only Sarah Nambawa succeeded in making Kipsiro look second-rate for once.Triple jumper Nambawa won Uganda’s first ever continental medal in horizontal jumps at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships held July 28- August 1 in Nairobi, Kenya.
At the same event, Kipsiro won 10,000m silver and finished fourth over 5,000m in Nairobi but his spirited performances were overshadowed by Nambawa’s 13.95-metre national record jump that helped her prevail over fancied Nigerians Donike Nkiruka (13.71m) and Otonye Iworina (13.65m).Nambawa had up till now been overlooked by UAF officials. Oblivious of her steady improvement that had earned her the year’s best jump in Africa (13.54m) prior to Nairobi, UAF were actually reluctant to contain Nambawa on the team and later alone meet her travel costs from America where she is based.
The determined 26-year-old former sprinter paid her air ticket. After Kipsiro failed to win gold, almost every Ugandan in the Kenyan capital believed that the 27-man team would return home without any.Nambawa served them with a pleasant surprise on the final day of the championship, leaping to gold on only her second attempt. “I knew I would make it,” Nambawa said of her presentation, which earned her a place on the African team for the IAAF Continental Cup held September in Split, Croatia.She travelled to Croatia alongside Kipsiro and steeplechaser Benjamin Kiplagat, who had completed fifth in Nairobi. Kipsiro turned out to be the best of the three Ugandans in Split, finishing second behind American Bernad Lagat over 5,000m.
At the same event, Kipsiro won 10,000m silver and finished fourth over 5,000m in Nairobi but his spirited performances were overshadowed by Nambawa’s 13.95-metre national record jump that helped her prevail over fancied Nigerians Donike Nkiruka (13.71m) and Otonye Iworina (13.65m).Nambawa had up till now been overlooked by UAF officials. Oblivious of her steady improvement that had earned her the year’s best jump in Africa (13.54m) prior to Nairobi, UAF were actually reluctant to contain Nambawa on the team and later alone meet her travel costs from America where she is based.
The determined 26-year-old former sprinter paid her air ticket. After Kipsiro failed to win gold, almost every Ugandan in the Kenyan capital believed that the 27-man team would return home without any.Nambawa served them with a pleasant surprise on the final day of the championship, leaping to gold on only her second attempt. “I knew I would make it,” Nambawa said of her presentation, which earned her a place on the African team for the IAAF Continental Cup held September in Split, Croatia.She travelled to Croatia alongside Kipsiro and steeplechaser Benjamin Kiplagat, who had completed fifth in Nairobi. Kipsiro turned out to be the best of the three Ugandans in Split, finishing second behind American Bernad Lagat over 5,000m.
No comments:
Post a Comment