Long distance runner Felicien Muhitira will be Rwanda’s only representative at the upcoming World Athletics Championships, slated for August 22-30, in Beijing, China.

Muhitira will compete in the men’s 5000m following invitation by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) for countries that do not qualify for the world’s most prestigious athletics event.

Rwanda Athletics Federation (RAF) technical director John Peter Ndacyayisenga told Times Sport that, "We worked hard to try and qualify an athlete for the World Championships we failed. We have young talented athletes who are doing well and in the future we hope they can qualify.”

Another long distance runner, Eric Sebahire, was scheduled to compete at the world event but his coach at APR, Innocent Rwabuhihi, insisted that he competes at the ongoing East Africa Military Games in Uganda.

Both Muhitira and Sebahire qualified for the upcoming All Africa Games, scheduled for September 4-19 in Congo Brazzaville, after posting 28:04 and 28:03, respectively, at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

According to Ndacyayisenga, RAF’s priority is to field the athletes in the men’s 10,000m at the continental competition where they have an easier chance to shade off the seconds since the qualification mark for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is 28:00.

"It is easy to remove three seconds if they compete well with good weather in Congo-Brazzaville so we think they can qualify for Rio,” explained Ndacyayisenga.

The qualification mark for the World Championships in the men’s 10,000m category is 27:00, a whole minute below the requirement for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, world long distance powerhouse Kenya has sent a strong squad of 39 athletes while neighbours Uganda will be represented by 10 athletes including the defending marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich, the London 2012 Olympics gold medallist.

Kenya’s star-studded team includes world record-holder Denis Kimetto, two-time London Marathon winner Wilson Kipsang as well as this year’s Paris Marathon champion Mark Korir.

In the women’s category, the reigning 800m champion Eunice Sum and 2011 10,000m winner Vivian Cheruiyot are some of the Kenyan big names.

Ethiopia have sent a 33-member squad including Genzebe Dibaba, who is the current world record holder in the women’s 1500m as well as the reigning men’s 800m champion Mohammed Aman.

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