Four Ugandan athletes; Winnie Nanyondo, Denis Opio, Ronald Musagala and Joshua Cheptegei are set to benefit greatly from International races participation following endorsements by top kit manufacturers Nike and Adidas.
According to Daily Monitor, 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth 400m bronze medalist Winnie Nanyondo, 400m Men’s national champion Denis Opio, 800m ace Ronald Musagala and Joshua Cheptegei will now earn appearance fees accompanied by competition and training kits according to the agreements made with their respective sponsors.
Nanyondo, currently the best female athlete, inked a one-year deal with Adidas in Nijmegen, Netherlands in September 2014 while Opio was also contracted to the same kit manufacturer despite having been controversially dropped from the athletes’ team in the recent commonwealth games in Glasgow.
Musagala who made it to the men’s 800m finals of the 2014 Glasgow commonwealth games only to finish 8th, secured endorsement with Nike in May 2014 as well as Oregon World junior 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei, who won the Uganda Sports Press Association personality of the month award for July 2014.
The runners will pocket $100,000 (approximately Shs262m) if they claim gold at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China. They now join Uganda’s commonwealth 10,000m champion Moses Kipsiro who signed with Adidas, having crossed from Puma early 2014.