Uganda's Kissa finishes second in Osaka Marathon to seal Olympic qualification

KAMPALA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's Stephen Kissa has sealed his place at the 2024 Olympic Games after finishing second in the Osaka Marathon in Japan on Sunday.

Kissa, Uganda's marathon record holder, settled for second place in a time of 2.06.22 behind Japan's Koyoto Hirabayashi, who clocked 2:06.18.

"We are happy that Kissa has continued to improve his time and has virtually clinched his place to qualify for the Olympics. Kissa has now moved to second place among the top six athletes who hit qualifying times for the Olympics," Dominic Otuchet, the Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF) President told Xinhua on Monday.

"We still have some time for more runners to hit the qualifying mark in their respective races to qualify for the Olympics. We want to perform much better than we did the last time at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020," added Otuchet. ■