KAMPALA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's star runner Stephen Kiprotich will not take part in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
The Games that bring together members of the Commonwealth will take place April 4-15 in the Gold Coast City, Australia.
Kiprotich who won a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics had hoped to appear at the Games, but changed his mind to concentrate on the up-coming 2018 Hamburg Marathon in Germany.
"Let me leave some competitions for the youngsters to have chance and also improve on their times," Kiprotich told Xinhua. The Ugandan star athlete said he will be eager to improve on his time in the Hamburg Marathon after he finished second last year.
Solomon Munyo Mutai, another star marathon runner for Uganda who came third at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China will also miss the Commonwealth Games due to injury.
Timothy Masaba, an administrator at the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) confirmed to Xinhua on Wednesday that Mutai has a problem with his muscles and will be out for close to three months.
"He had cramps when he resumed training after being off season," he added.
Dominic Otuchet, President of the Federation told Xinhua that they will respect Kiprotich's choice to skip the Commonwealth Games. "But I still believe we have the runners who can perform well at the world stage," he added. Kiprotich also skipped the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Uganda is expected to send around 70 athletes to the Commonwealth Games and 30 officials. Already five weightlifters, the Netball and rugby 7s teams have secured direct qualification for the Games. Uganda will also field athletes in Boxing, Badminton, Squash, Swimming, Shooting, Table Tennis and track-and-field. Enditem
