By Thursday morning, two goals for Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC) and National Council of Sports (NCS) seemed to have been met for Team Uganda at the sixth Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia.
Uganda counted 12 medals from four disciplines; athletics, aquatics, boxing and table tennis in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
It meant UOC and NCS hit a record medal tally at an edition, justifying the government’s accountability but importantly, the platform set good tones in the build-up to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics and if looked in the interim, the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
And the pointers are there. Teenage duo of Jemimah Nakawala and Judith Parvin Nangonzi delivered women’s doubles bronze in table tennis and teenager Charity Cherop enters a similar conversation.
The 18-year-old celebrated her first senior medal when she came second in the women’s 5000 metres final in the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium on Wednesday night.
Racing against the experienced Bahraini Winfred Yavi Mutile after the bell, Cherop posted a time of 15 minutes and 47.01 seconds to take a silver medal.
‘As a young athlete, I keep learning from my seniors every day,’ said Cherop, who trains in a camp comprising Commonwealth marathon Victor Kiplangat, multiple world champion Joshua Cheptegei, 2021 Olympic steeplechase champion Peruth Chemutai among others.
‘This silver medal in 5000m makes me proud because we were told before the races that such a medal would have us make it to the national team,’ she said yesterday.
‘Slow race but a good finish,’ her coach Addy Ruiter remarked. Olympic 3000 metres steeplechase champion Winfred Yavi won the gold medal in 15:43.51, Katy Perry’s Firework and Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso playing as celebrations went on.
Cherop last year elevated her profile when she won the bronze medal over the 5000 metres at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Lima, Peru.
She made that trip to South America with Sam Simba Cherop, who got the silver medal in the men’s 10000 metres final on Tuesday night in Riyadh.
By stepping up from Lima to Riyadh, the podium finishes for the two Cherops are significant in the build-up for LA28.
The development curve will be enhanced further should the two be included in the team which will compete at the World Athletics Cross-country Championships in Florida, USA on January 10.
Or even then, Uganda Athletics (UAt) may consider the pair for the Glasgow Games. Charity, national cross-country winner Dan Kibet, Keneth Kiprop, Emmanuel Kibet and a couple more are runners under Ruiter’s tutelage, with plans of making it to the podium in Los Angeles, California in three years’ time.
A similar plan yielded results for Cheptegei and Chemutai at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan in 2021.
Charity’s medal was the first long-distance running medal by a female athlete from Uganda at the Solidarity Games in their two-decade history.
CHEROP AT A GLANCE
Full Name: Charity Cherop
Born: Jul 4, 2007
Age: 18
Major Events: 5000 metres, 5km, 10km
Personal Bests: 15:06.84 (5000m), 15:41 (5km), 32:19 (10km)
Coaches: Addy Ruiter, Dennis Okudach
Manager: Youri Verbaas
Major Honours: 5000 Metres Bronze (2024 World Athletics U20 Champs), 5000 Metres Silver (2025 Islamic Solidarity Games), 4th – 3000 Metres (2023 Commonwealth Youth Games)
2025 ISLAMIC SOLIDARITY GAMES
ATHLETICS: WEDNESDAY NIGHT RESULTS
WOMEN’S 800 METRES FINAL
1 Nelly Korir (BHR) 2:02.59
2 Halimah Nakaayi (UGA) 2:03.14
MEN’S 1500 METRES FINAL
1 Anass Essayi (MAR) 3:44.20
2 Mehmet Celik (TUR) 3:44.50
11 Tom Dradriga (UGA) 3:58.65
WOMEN’S 400 METRES FINAL
1 Salwa Naser (BHR) 51.59
3 Leni Shida (UGA) 52.72
MEN’S 400 METRES FINAL
1 Rachid M’hamdi (MAR) 45.40
4 Haron Adoli (UGA) 46.66
WOMEN’S 5000 METRES FINAL
1 Winfred Yavi (BHR) 15:43.51
2 Charity Cherop (UGA) 15:47.01
3 Samiya Hassan Nour (DJI) 15:48.28
4 Kadra Mohamed Dembil (DJI) 15:57.82
5 Risper Cherop (UGA) 16:23.30