MTN Uganda hosted the Uganda athletics team to a special lunch with the Executive leadership of the giant telecom company, to congratulate the athletes for their outstanding performance in the just-concluded 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The lunch provided an interactive session between the athletes, UAF officials and the MTN Senior Leadership, with CEO Wim Vanhelleputte reflecting on the success of the team and the support given by the telecom company towards athletics in Uganda.
“We have been a proud partner of the Uganda Athletics Federation for the last 14 years supporting various events and activities including team selection and training,” he said.
“We are therefore very proud of the gallant Ugandan sportsmen and women who tussled it out with the more than 4,000 participants from the Commonwealth nations to emerge 15th overall on the medals table,” said Wim Vanhelleputte.
He further recounted how he has always been an athletics fan, even bearing childhood dreams of being a track and field professional athlete and winning Gold medals someday.
Uganda won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals (six medals in total); this has been noted as one of Uganda’s best performances in an international sports event since 1970. Some of the medalists who attended the luncheon included Stella Chesang (Gold – 10,000m), Solomon Mutai (Silver – marathon race) and Mercyline Chelangat (Bronze – 10,000m). The other star at the 2018 CWG was double medalists Joshua Cheptegei.
“We are extremely proud to be part of this success. We applaud the team for their hard work and efforts. As we approach our 20th Anniversary later this year, we shall continue our partnership with UAF to support development of athletics in Uganda,” said Olivier Prentout, the MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer.
Uganda Athletics Federation President, Dominic Otuchet lauded MTN for their continued partnership and sponsorship of the Federation’s events.
“We continue to register success because of your generosity. Our success is MTN’s success and for the country at large. Thank you for playing your part to build the sporting discipline of athletics in Uganda. Your efforts will not go unnoticed. We pledge to strive to excel each time we hit the race track,” Otuchet said.
At the lunch, MTN Uganda revealed that it had recently penned an additional three-year sponsorship package for Uganda Athletics Federation calendar activities.
