Nanyondo misses London meet after visa rejection
Nanyondo sets the pace for her friend Halima Nakaayi (R) during the National Championships at Namboole on July 7. Nakaayi rode on Nanyondo’s pace to qualify for the Olympic Games starting August 5 in Brazil. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
KAMPALA- Until yesterday afternoon, Winnie Nanyondo’s name remained in lane six of the London Diamond League 800m start list.
The Rio-bound Nanyondo will not be part of the field gunning for glory when the race gets underway at the Olympic Stadium tomorrow after her visa application to the UK was rejected. Among the reasons of denying her the visa is that she had not provided evidence of her financial situation.
“It is very difficult for me to assess your financial standing in your home country,” reads in part a visa refusal from the UK Visas and Immigration.
“On the balance of probabilities I am not satisfied that you have demonstrated that you have strong family and financial ties to your home country which would encourage you to leave the UK should you be granted entry.” The middle distance runner is sponsored by Global Sports Communications, an athletes management agency.
Nanyondo qualified for the Rio Olympics after winning the women’s 800m race in 2:00.57 at the Golden Spike Leiden Meeting Netherlands last month and had hoped to gauge progress this weekend in London ahead of Olympics starting August 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
To say that Nanyondo, whose personal best of 1:58.63 came in 2014 in Hercules, Monaco, is deflated is an understatement.
“I already had my air ticket,” she told Daily Monitor in between her training at Namboole yesterday, “I had even already packed and ready to travel yesterday (Wednesday) only to receive the visa rejection letter.”
“I cried when I saw that message,” she added, presenting her phone to display it, plus the start list of the 800m in London tomorrow, “I’m disappointed but that is life. I just have to forget it and continue working hard for Rio.”
To try forget it, Nanyondo, 22, did a time trial run at Namboole, with fellow Rio-headed Ronald Musagala (1,500m) and Abu Mayanja (800m), who never qualified, pace-setting for her. She managed to post her season best at Namboole, running the two laps (800m) in 2:00. This was better than the 2:00.57 she did in Netherlands to qualify for Rio. “The time is encouraging and I hope to do even better than that in Rio,” she said.
Halima Nakaayi completes a trio of middle distance runners training from Namboole, with the other 14 doing their drills in Kapchorwa and Kenya.
