CRAVING FOR REMATCH: Kenyans out to revenge losses to Ugandans on Sunday
Athletics
By
JONATHAN KOMEN
| Mar 24, 2017
There will be no love lost when star athletes lock horns at the 42nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday.
The stage is set for mouth-watering clashes, with a rematch between Nicholas Kosimbei and Uganda’s favourite Joshua Cheptegei being one of the most awaited races.
Kosimbei, the 2014 world junior 10,000m bronze medallist, arrives in Kampala today for a rematch withe Cheptegei, the 2014 world junior 10,000m champion.
“He beat me in Portland in 2014 in USA. I am now in good shape and our team effort will help us a lot,” said Kosimbei, who will make his debut at the world cross country.
Kosimbei, based in Japan, basks in a 10km world leading time this season and braces to take on Kenyan ‘exports’.
“We will fight it out with them. I have prepared well, having had thorough training in Japan,” he said.
The team is expected to arrive at Entebbe International Airport at 4:30pm today for the 42nd IAAF World Cross Country Championships at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, Uganda, on Sunday.
The IAAF World Cross-Country Championships – in which Kenya makes its 32nd stab without signs of fatigue – promises a cocktail of hopes and intrigues, as it always does.
And they will begin an impossibly brilliant battle as millions of athletics fans watch the action.
It’s also an interesting sight to behold in Chichir Trading Centre near Global Sports Communications Camp in Kaptagat, where defending champion Geoffrey Kamworor trains together with Uganda’s 2012 Olympic marathon winner Stephen Kiprotich.
Kamworor, who comes from the nearby Chepsamo Village, boasts a sizeable number of home fans.
Despite being a foreigner, Kiprotich commands some clout in the area thanks to his generosity.
When he won the Olympic gold, Kiprotich visited local eateries and appreciated his fans with some cups of tea.
This broadened his fan base and, when he won marathon gold medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia, the fans broke into wild celebrations, even as the rest bemoaned Kenya's loss.
Alex Kiplimo, a youth from the area, said: “We love Kiprotich. We hope he is not going to lead Ugandans into snatching our senior men gold medal. He won London Olympics and Moscow and that’s enough... no more.”
The contest is also about another happy tour to immediate neighbour Uganda where Kenyans have a herculean task to reclaim lost junior titles and replay the brilliant show they exhibited during the Africa Cross Country Championships in 2014 at the flat course – battling 557 runners from 59 countries.
Kamworor, the two-time world half marathon winner, said they must silence Kiprotich and his squad in their backyard.