Months after qualifying for the 2024 Paralympic Games set for Paris, France, Wesley Sang leads Uasin Gishu county team to Kericho for the national trials to the East Africa Community Games in Kigali, Rwanda next month.
The trials will be staged at the newly-renamed Kiprugut Chumo Stadium on Thursday through Friday and where Sang will compete in the 1,500m race.
Coach Ruth Ndalut said Sang will be using the event as part of his preparations for the Paralympics, which he qualified for during the World Championships held in France in July.
“In as much as he did not win a medal, he finished fourth to earn an automatic slot at the Paris Games since the organisers were targeting the top four finishers," said Ndalut.
She said the Uasin Gishu team is made up of young athletes who have the potential to represent the country for many years.
“We are preparing them for future Paralympics. The majority of them are under 30 and mostly from universities and colleges,” she said.
Ndalut will be relying on top athletes like Nelly Sile, (javelin and shot put), Fausia Sifuna (discus, javelin and shot put), Hillary Tarus (400m), Brian Kipchirchir (long jump and 400m), Brian Esogon (long jump, 400m and 100m), Timothy Yatoich (javelin), Theophilus Rono (javelin, shot put), Aron Kikoech (javelin, shot put), Winrose Nafula (discus, shot put), Beatrice Cherop (shot put, discus) and Kelvin Wamalwa (javelin, shot put).
“These are athletes we hope to qualify for the Paralympics. We want to have as many athletes qualify when we compete at international events including the World Athletics Grand Prix qualifiers set for February in India, the World Para Athletics in Tunisia in March and the World Para Athletics Championships in Japan in May,” explained Ndalut.
