Uganda’s Commonwealth Games champion Joshua Cheptegei (right) has started the construction of a multi-million-shilling sports facility in Teryet, Kapchorwa in his country, to help tap more talent.
Cheptegei who won gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia said in his tweeter account that: “I cannot wait for the government to fulfill their promises because athletes are always in a race against time.”
The facility that will have a racing track, gymnasium and hostels is said to have cost the athlete around Sh 30 million to put up.
Meanwhile, Cheptegei recently shifted his training base from Mt Elgon to Portugal ahead of his title hunt at this year’s World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark tomorrow.
Due to injury concerns, Cheptegei, who has been training in Kenya, said 2019 is critical in his career development as he seeks gold in the senior men’s race and exorcises the Kenyan ghost which saw him struggle on home soil during the 2017 World Cross in his native Uganda.
“I am a kind of person who loathes defeats. If I lose it pains a lot so I strive on my goals and ambitions and I have set the bar high with expectations. That is why I have decided to go to Portugal to train and look for more goals in 2019,” Cheptegei told Xinhua on Friday.
A year ago, Cheptegei injury concerns mounted after he twisted his left foot during a training session and this put additional pressure on his right knee. It further hampered his build-up to the Commonwealth Games.
