Badminton: Uganda International Championship, the Last Olympic Qualifier Event on Continent Registers Enormous Entries
The 2024, Uganda International Badminton championship shuttle off on Wednesday morning at Lugogo Indoor Arena in Kampala.
The last Paris Olympic Qualifier Event on Continent has been officially opened up by the Uganda Olympic Committee President, Dr. Donald Rukare who thanked Uganda Badminton Association and Africa Badminton for hosting a well organized event.
“As UOC were happy that the Uganda Badminton Association and the Africa Badminton hosting this international championship with over 49 countries. And this is an important event because it’s a qualifier event for the Olympics, there are various players here to collect points, one of our ugandans is here to get points the younger lady [Shamika Fadilah], she needs at least 4000 points to qualify for Paris….. therefore we thank UBA for hosting this important championship.” Says UOC president and the guest of honor, Dr. Donald Rukare.
Being the last continental event for Olympics qualifiers, this year’s edition has attracted at least 450 entries the biggest compared to last years.
The event has commenced today, Wednesday and it will climax on Sunday.
“This is the last qualifier for the Olympics on the African continent, it has attracted 49 countries from four continents, I can say that the whole world is here, they are looking for points so that they can qualify for Paris…. the total number of entries for this tournament is so huge because it’s 450 but as uganda, we had 97 players in this tournament, unfortunately not all of them are going because of their rankings, so many of them are in reserves, the number that went in is 30 but we expect good results because they have been preparing for it.” Says UCA CEO Simon Mugabi.
Some of the countries that presented participants in this championship, includes; Uganda (hosts), India, Brazil, Canada, USA, China, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Spain, Finland and others.
Uganda’s Tracy Naluwooza who still have a chance to qualify in Women’s double with Shamika Fadilah, asserted that they are hoping to reach quarters in doubles though can’t predict her performance in the singles.
“This tournament has a lot of points that can help us qualify for Paris 2024, about Egypt, I would say, it was hard luck for us, we thought that we had it all but our opponents were a bit lucky but still thankful for the silver medal, but this is a different tournament, meeting different opponents but again we shall do our best.” Says Tracy Naluwooza.
Emudu Expedito also expects to perform better.
“I expect to go farther because I have been preparing for this tournament since last year we have been having international tournaments, so I am really prepared, yes in Egypt we had challenges especially weather but now we’re home, so we expect to do better.” Emudu Expedito.
The main characters for Uganda includes; Lubega Muzafaru, Emudu Expedito, Tracy Naluwooza, Husina Kobugabe, Fadilah Shamika, Amos Muyanja, Owinyi Augustus.