Have confidence in sports- French Ambassador tells gov’t

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The French Ambassador to Uganda Jules-Armand Aniambossou says that athletes and government should have confidence in sports describing it as a soft power for the country.

Jules-Armand on Wednesday alongside other European Union envoys visited the Kiprotich National High Altitude Training Centre project site at Teryet, Kapchorwa. The training centre is named after Stephen Kiprotich Uganda’s Olympic medalist.

Ambassador Jules-Armand said that training centres like that at Teryet will go a long way in developing sports in the country also noting that the European Union countries are open to athletes from Africa to go and carry out training in their countries.

The Ambassador particularly said that the President of France Emmanuel Macron made a commitment to have African athletes train in France ahead of the 2020 Olympic games at their cost. He noted that it was up to the respective countries to organize and have their athletes travel to France.

Jules-Armand said that Uganda and the EU need to build a relationship based on respect, equality and real and that sport is one of the ways to do it.

At the training centre, the Ambassador of Denmark Nicolaj Hejberg took part in a run at the training centre alongside the World Cross Country champion Joshua Cheptegei, Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, 2019 World Athletics gold medalist Halima Nakayi, middle distance runner Winnie Nanyondo and others.

Apitta Omare, the Commissioner for Physical Education and Sports in the Ministry of Education says that the road network is one of the major challenges the training centre project has faced despite other preliminary activities like power extension to Teryet from Kapchorwa training centre and water.

At the project site, URN observed on-going works on a field where the artificial turf for football and rugby is going to be laid and the 400 meters training running track, the 3-kilometre jogging track whose base-works are complete with the synthetic surface yet to be laid.

Omare said that the athletes’ hostel is 99 percent complete and the primary school at the centre already complete.

Halima Nakayi who is at the Teryet training centre until January 2020 said that the facility is important to prepare them for more international competitions.

Cheptegei said that the training centre currently helps them carry out easy runs and when completed, he hopes that the country will produce more champions.

Asked about Uganda’s preparedness for the Japan 2020 Olympic games, William Blick, the Uganda Olympic Committee President said that they are well prepared saying that two out of the 30 athletes they plan to qualify are world athletes. The two athletes are Nakayi and Cheptegi.

Blick said that he is confident that more medals will be fetched for Uganda at the competition.

He however also appealed that government fast tracks the completion of the training centre to offer better training facility to the athletes.

The Teryet project was first mooted in 2010 by President Yoweri Museveni in after Moses Kipsiro’s 2010 Commonwealth Games double gold success in the 5000 and 10,000m races. The inauguration works were done in 2013 and the contractor China National Complete Plant Import and Export Corporation (COMPLANT) started work in February 2017.

*****

URN