Athletics federation urges gov’t to set up training facilities for athletes
The South Sudan Athletics Federation on Wednesday called on the government to set up modern training facilities for athletes to end the usual travel to neighboring countries such as Uganda and Kenya.
South Sudan athletes have been traveling for training in Kenya and Uganda which have better facilities.
“We have been facing a lot of challenges from here, I call upon our government to concentrate and focus on training facilities for our athletes, because with sport our flag will be flying internationally,” said Simon Okeny, the Deputy President for South Sudan Athletics Federation in an interview in Juba.
“Athletes need to train in well-established facilities to prepare themselves for international competition, our target is about 50 athletes so that we can prepare them for 2024 Paris Olympic Games,” he disclosed.
Okeny revealed that the national athletics championship set to begin on November 24th will see groups and individual athletes awarded for their exploits.
He said they have engaged the World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations to construct athletics track in Juba.
“We have talented athletes in remote areas, the national championship will bring us talented ones and we will have to send them outside for training,” Okeny said.
