A huge return leg home showdown is expected of Ethiopian national Women’s side Lucy on Tuesday hosting visitors Uganda at Abebe Bikila stadium.
Back from long absence from international fixtures Ethiopian Women national side Lucy faces a high hill second leg home match to offset the first leg 2-0 away defeat at the hands of Uganda’s Crested Cranes. The aggregate winner of the big showdown in Abebe Bikila stadium on Tuesday faces the winner of Kenya Vs South Sudan in the final qualification 2022 African Cup of nations in Morocco.
Although the Ethiopian side Lucy reached Kampala with a full squad including renowned international Losa Aberra and rising star Senaf Wakuma, lack of match fitness and friendly matches are said to be the major shortcomings in the away showdown on Wednesday.
Despite conceding an early goal just two minutes into the match, Lucy managed a strong recovery yet was hardly in control of the match to score goals. While busy in search of an equalizer, the home side’s Fauzia Najjemba added the second at the 76th minute thus the match ended in a 2-0 first leg victory to Uganda.
Considering the way Lucy dominated most of the game, turning around the two goal deficit in front of home supporters appears a likely possibility. “We are playing at home and have every fire power to overturn the result.” one of the senior players suggested.
The winner of the two will face off with neighboring Kenya that thrashed South Sudan to 8-0 score line at Nyayo Stadium.
Lucy in high spirits to upset visitors Uganda
Kenya confirms bid for 2025 World Athletics Championships
Kenya confirmed its bid to host the 2025 Athletics World Championships, which if accepted, would bring the event to Africa for the first time.
Nairobi has hosted both the world under-18 and under-20 World Championships in the last four years, but faces a string of high-profile rivals including Tokyo, which staged the Olympic Games in July.
“We formally confirmed our bid to host the global championships on Friday October 1 which was the deadline set by World Athletics,” Athletics Kenya chief Jackson Tuwei told AFP.
“We organised two very successful world junior championships at the Kasarani stadium in 2017 and in August 2021, where a number of world records and personal bests were realised,” he said.
“We learnt a lot of lessons in staging both events, and realistically it is our time to bring the biggest event.”
Over the years, Kenya has become one of the countries to have produced the most successful long-distance runners, but has yet to see the World Championships elite runners perform in the country.
Africa has never hosted the World Athletics (WA) premier showpiece, which was first contested in Helsinki, Finland in 1983.
Kenyan sports minister Amina Mohammed first announced the country’s bid for the 2025 world championships in Doha in September 2019, after WA said the global event would be held on a rotational basis across continents.
Ethiopian Tamirat Tola sets Amsterdam Marathon Course Record
The Amesterdam Marathon saw both its Men’s and Women’s record tumble as Tamerat Tola and Angela Tanui won titles in the Dutch capital. Ethiopia Tola took the lead in the final 2 miles of the race for a time of 2:03.38, beating Kenyan Lawrence Cherono’s previous men’s record. And Tanui’s 2:15:57 topped Degitu Azimerew’s 2019 record.
Tamerat who finished second in the London Marathon in 2017, and bronze in the 10,000m race at Rio 2016 was among six runners left at the end of the race, edging ahead in the final two miles to take the win.
The winning time by the 2017 marathon World Championship silver medalist, improved the previous course record by almost half a minute (2:04:06), while he also moved up seven spots on the world all-time list to 16th.
Meanwhile Kenyan Angella Tanuia late addition to the elite field after her plans to compete in Boston derailed because visa issues, also moved away from the field late to win by more than two minutes, clocking a time of 2:17:57 in the end.
Brenard Koech of Kenya finished second with a time of 2:04:09, while Leul Gebreselasse of Ethiopia rounded out the podium places with a third-place finish with 2:04:12.
That performance eclipsed the previous TSC Amsterdam Marathon course record of 2:19:26 while improving her previous best of 2:20:08, which she set earlier this year in Ampugnano. Kenyan Maureen Chepkemoi ran 2:20:18 for second place, with the podium spots rounded out by Ethiopian Haven Hailu with 2:20:19. Completing the top five were Ethiopian duo Gebeyanesh Ayele (2:21:22) and Worknesh Alemu (2:26:54).
Nafkot Gebeyehu
Name: Nafkot Gebeyehu
Education: BA in Journalism and Communications
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Title: Founder
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Number of employees: 1
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