22-year-old Fridah Ndinda, a young female athlete currently scaling new heights in her budding career is the second Gold Winner in the ongoing Tujiamini Initiative powered by leading online gaming firm SportPesa.
Ndinda, the first female to win the Tujiamini Gold Award was unveiled in Machakos County on Thursday where he walked away with a Ksh 500,000 cash prize alongside other benefits such as training kits and mentorship in recognition and support of her talent towards becoming a top-flight athlete.
Ndinda made headlines in international sports as the first Kenyan female to come second in the 10km Gqeberha marathon in South Africa in 2023.
With ambitions to make the podium again in key races later in the year including the 10KM Nairobi City (Xpressway) Marathon slated for July 7th 2024, Ndinda already has her eyes set on participating in the Diamond League next year as she chases a slot in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Coming from a humble background, Ndinda was educated through well-wishers, a situation that she says is her biggest motivation.
She aims to use sports as a stepping stone to uplift her family’s fortunes given the many challenges she has had to overcome in her life and athletics journey.
However, since being introduced to her current coach and mentor, William Korir, Ndinda has excelled against the odds.
Despite struggling with insufficient funding, lack of quality training gear, and access to a gym or rubber tracks for speed work, she has triumphed in the races she has participated in, an indication of her determination to grow and rake in the medals.
“Within the first four months of my training in the year 2022, I qualified for the National 5,000M Olympic trials where I finished eighth.
A week later, I ran in the 10KM Nairobi City Marathon in 2022 coming in third place. In July, I also took third place in the Durban 10KM road race and emerged ninth in the Single loop half marathon in October”, said Ndinda.
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Tujiamini Gold Award
Speaking at the event, SportPesa’s representative Deborah Chepkirui, said the Tujiamini Initiative was particularly designed for young sportswomen and men in the grassroots with the intention of supporting promising but yet unknown careers such as Ndinda’s.
“A lot of people at the grassroots are struggling because they lack the facilities to get to the top tier levels. Tujiamini aims to change that by giving them the necessary support to advance their sporting dreams,” she said.
Ndinda’s coach, William Korir, expressed gratitude for the Tujiamini Initiative’s support saying it will go a long way in preparing Ndinda in her competitive races for the rest of the year where she aims to improve her best time and global ranking.
Storm Trentham, the Director, DBA Africa- a sports development social enterprise that has partnered with SportPesa in the Tujiamini Initiative noted that the programme aims to reach every young talent in the grassroots across the country intent on identifying and empowering the next crop of Kenya’s sporting stars.
“In order to build talents to elite levels, we need to have academies and sporting programmes at the grassroots and that is where Tujiamini comes in.
The initiative aims to achieve a big impact whether on an individual basis or within the local community by keeping individuals engaged in self-development through their talents,” said Trentham who encouraged women to apply and nominate each other for the Tujiamini Initiative that now moves to the North Rift region.
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Tujiamini is an initiative that seeks to provide a platform, including up to 30M shillings in funding, for individual, team sports and various talent, in a year-long campaign that will go around the country in a move aimed at evoking the sense of pride in Kenya’s sports and talent ecosystem.
Applicants are urged to submit their applications through www.tujiamini.co.ke