NAIROBI — Commonwealth Video games champion Ferdinand Omanyala has confessed his want to play rugby within the latter phases of his profession.
Omanyala says rugby is a sport he has beloved for a really very long time, having began out as a participant earlier than transitioning to athletics.
“I miss rugby…I used to be planning to play rugby till when athletics dragged me away. I need to return and play it within the final years of my profession. I nonetheless have like 11 years on this sport after which I’ll name it a day. I’d love to return and play rugby in my 40s, simply to get pleasure from it,” the 2022 African champion mentioned.
Omanyala has beforehand talked of his rugby background, having began out as a winger whereas at Kamusinga Excessive College in addition to the College of Nairobi.
Nonetheless, the Kitale native needed to change rugby boots for a pair of spikes as a result of monetary challenges he was then encountering.
The remaining is historical past…
Again to the current
Omanyala’s speedy focus is Saturday’s Kip Keino Basic the place he can be competing within the males’s 100m on the Ulinzi Sports activities Complicated.
He has been the de facto poster boy of the World Continental Tour Gold occasion, having offered a few of the most memorable moments of the six-year-old competitors.
It’s in the identical occasion in 2021 that he set an African report of 9.77 on his method to a second-place end within the males’s 100m on the Moi Worldwide Sports activities Centre Kasarani.
He was additionally victorious in 2022 and 2023 earlier than faltering to a disappointing fifth place end eventually 12 months’s competitors — clocking 10.03.
The sprinter says Saturday’s race will merely be a possibility to proceed stepping into form for the World Championships in Tokyo in September, this 12 months.
“Going into tomorrow, the largest factor for me within the final couple of races has been to get into rhythm after seven months out of motion. I’m simply praying for an ideal race tomorrow,” he mentioned.
Omanyala’s final race was at Sunday’s Rabat Diamond League the place he clocked 10.05 to complete second.
He’s hopeful Kenya will quickly host a leg of the Diamond League.
“I consider if we’re in a position to fill the Kasarani Stadium with crowds, then it’s doable to host a Diamond League. It is a suggestion to the officers for them to attempt to go for it,” Omanyala mentioned.
