Ugandan athletes beating odds to qualify for Rio 2016 Olympic Games

As the Rio 2016 Olympic Games draw close, many Ugandan athletes are struggling to beat the odds to qualify for the event.

In a field dogged by persistent financial constraints and corruption allegations in the east African country, the athletes are focusing on the prestigious event.

Some athletes in the track and field even cross to neighboring Kenya to train alongside the country's giants in the sport.

Failure for the athletes to attend international competitions, mainly on account of financial constraints, has cost them dearly.

Badminton star player Edwin Ekiring's failure to attend recent tournaments, Swiss Open and Peru Open, cost him.

In the latest Badminton World Federation ranking, Ekiring lost his top Africa positon to South Africa's Jacob Maliekal.

Maliekal who has been in great form in the last three weeks is now ranked top with 21,152 points and is tipped to automatically qualify for the Olympic Games.

Ekiring who plays professional badminton in the Netherlands is now 85th in the world rankings with 20,330 points while Maliekal is 79th.

Simon Mugabi, head of Uganda Badminton Association said if Ekiring had attended the Opens, he would have collected some points increasing his chances of qualifying for the Games.

"It is very disappointing," said Mugabi, noting that they will now keep their fingers crossed ahead of the rankings later this week to see if Ekiring can make it to the final list of players who will qualify for the Olympic Games.

The stiff competition and high qualification times is also forcing the athletes to spend more time training.

Uganda's seasoned runner Moses Kipsiro is battling to make it for the Olympics. The three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist told Xinhua last week that although he hit the Olympic Games qualifying mark for marathon, he cannot make the final Ugandan team because there are five runners with better times than him.

Kipsiro finished 14th in the Hamburg Marathon on April 17 clocking 02:15:48.

"It is not easy at this point, but I have always been a fighter," the athlete who has also won several world junior races told Xinhua noting that he will try to compete in the 10,000m and 5,000m races where he can qualify. He ruled out taking part in the marathon.

As the start of the Games scheduled for August draws close, more Ugandan athletes are struggling to qualify.

"Many are still working hard to try and hit qualification times. Our target remains to have not less than 18 athletes for the Olympic Games," Dominic Otuchet, the president of Uganda Athletics Federation told Xinhua in a recent interview.

So far 13 athletes including two from boxing and 11 from track and field have qualified for the Games in Brazil.

The latest to qualify is Juliet Philis Chekwel who won the 10,000m race at the Ribeira Club Championship in Italy on Sunday. She clocked 31:78 seconds setting a new national record. She beat the Olympic qualifying mark of 32 minutes.

The country's Stephen Kiprotich, the 2012 London Olympic marathon champion is an inspiration to the athletes here that it is possible to go for the Games and win medals.

He is among the team that will represent the east African country at the Games in South America.

Kiprotich told Xinhua in an interview on April 22 that he is now focusing on the Games. He even skipped the London Marathon on April 24 to remain fresh.

"I don't want to burn out now, but instead train harder to better my times," he said.

Kiprotich's win was Uganda's first Olympic gold medal after 40 years since the late John Akii Bua won the country's only gold in 400m in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Source: XINHUA