Kampala, Uganda | URN | Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) plans to send at least 30 athletes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Olympics will start on 24th July to 9th August in Tokyo, Japan. Participating teams will compete in 50 disciplines including athletics. Uganda usually fields players in mainly weightlifting, boxing, swimming, badminton and athletics.
Since 2008, Uganda has sent between 11 to 21 competitors for Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and most of whom are runners.
President of the UAF, Domenic Otucet says that the federation is working round the clock to ensure Uganda sends between 25 to 30 athletes in track and road events, up from 17 in Rio 2016 and 11 in London 2012. Uganda fielded 7 runners in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In order to meet the number, the federation is preparing and training athletes for the qualifier competitions such as the Africa Senior Championship, Africa Cross Country Championship and IAAF World U-20 Championships.
The qualification deadline for the Olympic Games is June 29th.
Olympic qualifiers commenced last year were 10,000km and marathon slated for January 2019- May 2020 and other events from July 2019 to 29th June 2020.
Otucet says so far, 16 athletes have qualified for the Olympics.
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He also says that the athletes being prepared will compete in the upcoming qualifier games to take place in Togo, Kenya and Algeria.
The federation also plans to hold national and regional trials to select more athletes for the qualifier competitions.
The trials, slated for March, will be held every two weeks. Trials will be held in Busoga, West Nile, Central, South West and North Eastern regions for athletes who cannot participate at the national level.
Otucet added that the federation is discussing with international managers of elite athletes on participation in international and national events in the build to the Olympics.
