The Uganda Badminton Association (UBA) concluded the biggest event in their calender year as they crowned champions of the five day Uganda International Challenge tournament held at MTN Indoor stadium in Lugogo.
The closing ceremony was graced by the presence of the State Minister for Sports Hon. Peter Ogwang who thanked Uganda Badminton Association for organising such a tournament which adds alot if value to the countries economy.
“Bringing upto 49 countries in the country is one part where am very impressed. The organization has been very good, in terms of sports tourism and exposure for our children, I would like to commend the federation.” said Peter Ogwang.
The minister pledged support to Uganda Badminton Association after a successful tournament which had about 300 foreigners taking part as he opted to push the government for a state of the art arena which can attract more international events.
“Finally plans are underway, for us to have a state of the art indoor Stadium in Lugogo. And I want to confirm we are in negotiations. The President will make the official announcement, but as far as the contract is concerned, we are having discussions.” He added.
For Uganda who took part in the tournament it was a lesson to pick and gain points which can put them to higher ranks in the world. Despite tye fact that most of them didn’t go past the first round, the minister has urged them to invest more in training and coaches studies.
“Our children performed extremely well in south Africa, this has been an high end tournament for them but they have learnt a lot, again we have to invest in training, invest in coaches, I saw the performance of the elite particularly the last two, there was one from Malaysia, he was very combative in terms of easy reaction towards the game, those are the things our coaches should look at but again I want to meet the leadership of the association and discuss some of these areas.”
The tournament was dominated mostly by the Malaysian who won Gold in both the Men singles and the women singles.
Justin Hoh won Gold in the men singles despite the fact that he was just making his first appearance in the Uganda International Challenge and he gave it back to his preparations through intense training as a huge reason which pushed him to win at such a stage.
“I feel excited for winning the men singles as this is my first time to participate in this tournament. Preparation and multiple training sessions enabled me to win with the guidance of my coach” said Justin Hoh.
Women doubles were won by Indians internationals, men doubles went to Thailand while mixed doubles were for Singapore.
Uganda Badminton Association is having a busy schedule as they straight away kick off with the thre day junior championships starting on Monday 27th to Wednesday 1st at Lugogo indoor stadium.
