World 5000m bronze medallist Moses Kipsiro is crowned Uganda's top sport personality of 2007 (© Katende Norman Ssemakula)
World 5000m bronze medallist Moses Kipsiro on Saturday evening (15) beat four other sportsmen to be crowned sports personality of the year 2007, the top sports award in the country.
Parliament speaker Edward Ssekandi, State sports minister Charles Bakkabulindi, Uganda Sports Press association founding member Fred Sekitto and president Douglas Mazune crowned the star at the gala that took place at Lugogo, Kampala.
An outstanding year
Though failing to finish the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa, like Boniface Kiprop and Dorcus Inzikuru, Kipsiro came back to the track to prove his worth.
He bagged a 5000m gold medal at the All Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, Uganda’s only gold medal at the event, and added a bronze medal at the Osaka World Championships to cement his reputation.
Kipsiro beat woman rally driver Suzan Muwonge, who finished second in the national Rally Championships, the Uganda Rugby Cranes- who won the Confederation of Africa Rugby title in Madagascar, the National Cricket Team that won the International Cricket Council Division III trophy in Darwin, Australia, and professional football David Obua who was inspirational in Uganda’s near qualifying for the 2008 Ghana Africa Cup of Nations, striking a hat trick in the last match against Niger.
However, Kipsiro’s performance throughout the year, which saw him finish amongst the top three in most of the international race competed in, was reason enough for the scribes to crown him the best.
His future
Though Inzikuru (2002, 2003 and 2005) and Boniface Kiprop (2003 and 2006) no individual athlete has won the accolade twice, but Kipsiro has promised to win it back to back, with God’s help.
“I recently beat Zersenay Tadese and I think I will be fit enough in Edinburgh to perform well. I also look forward to a good performance this year so that I am crowned again,” he said after his being crowned.
Kipsiro said that he will try and target a medal at the Beijing Games after over a decade of Uganda’s absence on the podium finish but was not sure which event he will compete in at the Africa Senior Athletics Championships. 400m runner Davis Kamoga’s Atlanta 1996 bronze was Uganda’s last medal at the games.
“I do not know whether I will go for my favourite 5000m or I will defend the 10,000m gold medal. I will see as time goes on,” he said.
Katende Norman Ssemakula for the IAAF