Uganda will send a team of five athletes to the World Junior Championships that is scheduled take place in Barcelona from July 10-15. Namayo Mawerere, the spokesman Uganda Amateur Athletics Federation (UAAF) says that they hoped to send a larger contingent but they have been limited by funds.
He however sounds optimistic that the five athletes will perform well. Mawerere identifies the five athletes as Halima Nakaayi, the Isle of Man Commonwealth Youth Games 400m gold medalist, 3000m and 2000m steeplechase silver medalist Nancy Cheptegei and 3000m bronze medalist Philip Kipyego.
Others are the national team Moses Kurong (5000m) and Winnie Nanyondo (800m/1500m) who will be featuring in a major IAAF world event for the first time. He says the team that is led by Coach George Palanda will leave Uganda on Sunday for Spain on Wednesday.
Uganda will hope that the juniors can put up a good show compared to their counterparts in the senior category who finished 11th out of 24 countries at the just ended Africa Athletics Championships in Benin. Despite finishing in a bad position Uganda bagged a gold medal in triple jump through Sarah Nambawa and a Steeplechase bronze through Benjamin Kiplagat.
