{"id":13534,"date":"2021-07-05T19:02:55","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T19:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=13534"},"modified":"2021-07-05T17:09:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T17:09:11","slug":"sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward","title":{"rendered":"Sprinter Leni\u2019s perseverence reaps reward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>It maybe close to the middle of a 42-day full lockdown but sprinter Shida Leni could have spent the weekend as the country\u2019s happiest elite runner. This, after Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) broke the news to her that she will be at the Tokyo Olympics which get underway in Japan on July 23.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy,\u201d she said, moments after pouring out her feeling of delight via her Facebook page. Leni didn\u2019t beat the Olympic qualifying mark of 51.35 seconds over the 400m distance but she qualified by virtue of her global ranking over the lap distance by World Athletics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough for the last days, I so worried,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Why? \u201cTime was going and secondly the events like the National Championship which could have brought more points to me are not there because of Covid-19, and the rest of the world was having their Nationals so it was really tight to me. Until when Beatrice (Ayikoru) confirmed my place.\u201d<\/p>\n

How she made it<\/b><\/p>\n

Leni had to wait for confirmation for about a fortnight. She had cut her stay in Europe short to return home for the first jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine on June 21.<\/p>\n

She will be the only sprinter in the 26-man contingent to Tokyo and also, the first Ugandan to compete over the sprints at the Olympics since Justine Bayigga at the Beijing Games in 2008.\u201cMy dream has always been to be an Olympian as a sprinter from Uganda that was always a difficult dream to accomplish,\u201d she said, in part of her post on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to World Athletics, she is currently ranked 46th with a score of 1198 points. At some stage, she was ranked 24th globally. \u201cAthletes score points based on a combination of result and place depending on the level of the competition in which the result is achieved,\u201d World Athletics describes the ranking format.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ranking is then based on their average score over a certain number of competitions in a defined period of time.\u201dThere are 12 other runners who qualified for the women\u2019s 400m via global ranking.<\/p>\n

Leni\u2019s ranking however improved thanks to her circuit abroad between May and June where she competed in seven races across five European countries, most of which were on the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helped me a lot in terms getting experience, and learning new things from other runners. They (UOC and UAF) told me my ranking heard improved greatly.Leni dipped in to get a ticket to Tokyo thanks to her times of 51.81 seconds when she came fifth at the Atletica Geneva Meeting in Switzerland on June 12. She also won the race at the Meeting Internazionale Citt\u00e0 di Nembro, Italy, with 51.89 on June 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know was said was that if I remained in Uganda by then, I couldn\u2019t make it (to Tokyo) because my ranking was going to go down. And reaching Europe, it was a tough start and eventually I started peaking late. That\u2019s why my body started running those 51-second times,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Home and handicapped<\/b><\/p>\n

Leni is currently in Kampala but while she must improve ahead of the Heats on August 3, semifinals on August 4 and the final two days later in Tokyo, she can\u2019t have access to a tartan track because Namboole stadium is gazetted as a Covid-19 treatment centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt moment things are hard as I train at Kyambogo cricket oval,\u201d said Leni. \u201cBut I have been doing exercises and hill work. I pray I am in the first group to Tokyo so that I train from there,\u201d she added. UOC general secretary Beatrice Ayikoru says Leni should not worry.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is on the next batch to Tokyo on July 13,\u201d said Ayikoru, who is also a member of the World Athletics Council. The Tokyo Games will be Leni\u2019s 12th major championship since the 2014 Commonwealth Games and it will be her biggest stage yet. She boasts of a silver medal from the 2019 World University Games.<\/p>\n

Leni over 400m in 2021<\/b><\/p>\n

Mar 27: 1st 52.7sec UgandaApr 11: 4th 52.77 ZambiaApr 24: 1st 52.17 UgandaMay 15: 1st 53.01 AustriaMay 19: 2nd 53.60 ItalyMay 22: 4th 52.62 SpainMay 30: 2nd 52.62 GreeceJun 3: 5th 52.69 Spain)Jun 12: 5th 51.81 SwitzerlandJun 17: 1st 51.89 Italy<\/p>\n

dkyeyune@ug.nationmedia.com<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. It maybe close to the middle of a 42-day full lockdown but sprinter Shida Leni could have spent the weekend as the country\u2019s happiest elite runner. This, after Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) broke the news to her that she will be at the Tokyo Olympics which get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-13534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nSprinter Leni\u2019s perseverence reaps reward - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It maybe close to the middle of a 42-day full lockdown but sprinter Shida Leni could have spent the weekend as the count ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sprinter Leni\u2019s perseverence reaps reward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It maybe close to the middle of a 42-day full lockdown but sprinter Shida Leni could have spent the weekend as the count ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-05T19:02:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/07\/img-60e33c9390028.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Sprinter Leni\u2019s perseverence reaps reward\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-05T19:02:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\"},\"wordCount\":707,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/07\/img-60e33c9390028.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/sprinter-lenis-perseverence-reaps-reward\",\"name\":\"Sprinter Leni\u2019s perseverence reaps reward - 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