Kenyan sprinting sensation, Ferdinand Omanyala has parted ways with sponsor DBA Africa. According to DBA Africa Programs Director Lylle Asiligwa, there was a breakdown of communication between the two parties.
“Going forward we do not share the same vision. Omanyala has not been in constant communication with us but we wish him well in the future,” Asiligwa said. Asiligwa added that the Kenyan sprinter approached them in December 2020 and have worked with him for a good part of the year so far. An official from DBA Africa, Storm Trentham, also alluded to Omanyala failing to observe the agreement between the two sides. “The core values of DBA Africa are hugely important and must be upheld by all involved within the company. Unfortunately if our athletes do not maintain our same values at all times, we are no longer able to work successfully together,” she said.
“As you can imagine, to terminate a contract when the athlete is in his prime and performing on the world stage, speaks volumes about how important we feel it is to protect our brand and the professional image we proudly share with the sporting world," added Trentham. “We facilitated all his expenses to travel around Africa to run his Olympic qualifying times as well as financed other areas of his career. That is as much as we would like to say on the matter. We wish him well with his career and can now continue to focus on all our other talented athletes and our academies.”
Omanyala said that he has not been working with DBA Africa since May because the management company is not registered by World Athletics.
Omanyala donned DBA Africa-branded kits when he broke the national record, clocking 10.01 seconds in Nigeria in March and ran 10.06 in a race in South Africa in May.