Uganda: Kipsiro Blames Injury for Poor Performance

Solomon Sean Oseku

24 March 2011

Ugandan star runner Moses Kipsiro has blamed injury and bad course for his poor performance at last weekend’s World Cross-country Championships held in Punta Umbria, Spain.

A bronze medallist at last year’s edition, Kipsiro finished a distant 11th after picking a back injury in the 12km senior men’s race.

“I know Ugandans were expecting another gold medal but Iam thankful for what God gave us,” Kipsiro told the media at Lugogo yesterday shortly after the Ugandan team arrived from Punta Umbria.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games double gold medallist said he was shoved by opponents in the early stages of the race. As Kipsiro struggled, Stephen Kiprotich held onto the leading pack to finish an impressive sixth, guiding the team to bronze behind Ethiopia and champions Kenya.

Team bronze

Geoffrey Kusuro, who crossed the line in 13th, Dickson Huru(19th) and Moses Kibet (22nd), completed Uganda’s senior men’s team.

Thomas Ayeko made up for Kipsiro’s misfortunes by bagging silver in the 8km junior men’s race and led Uganda to team bronze. The women (junior and senior) finished sixth. “I want to congratulate my teammates because they managed to stand out,” Kipsiro added. National team coach Benjamin Longiross said the course was very fast but heavy, which gave his runners a hard time.

“These youngsters put up a wonderful performance because they managed to compete with very strong opposition and made tremendous surprises,” Longiros said.

National Council of Sports (NCS) general secretary Jasper Aligawesa said government would increase funding for athletics.

“We are going to increase on what we gave you this year,” said Aligawesa while welcoming back the team. For the second time in history, Uganda was represented by four teams at the World Cross-country Championships, the first being four years ago in Mombasa.

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