UGANDA TO HOST JUNIOR TEAMS’ TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP.
Uganda has being granted the hosting rights of the East African (Zone IV) Junior Teams’ Competition for both boys and girls under the age of 12 years.
The championship is slated for Kampala at the Lugogo Tennis Complex from 11th. to 17th. October. 2021.
The news was revealed by the Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) Chairman Cedric Babu at a media briefing held at Lugogo on Friday. 24th. September.
Babu stated that the motivation behind their bid to host the event was to keep their kid active and the fact that in this era of COVID-19 movements outside the country for such competitions is limited.
“This year we applied to confederation of Africa Tennis to host the 12 and under because we are looking for young talents and grassroot players whom we can push to where we want in order to have a strong team in future,” Babu revealed.
With regards to maintain the SOPs amidst the COVID – 19 Pandemic Babu said:
“With tennis it’s easier to maintain the SOPs because there is no physical interactions between coaches and players, but again we encourage people to maintain the SOPs and to go for vaccination before this event.”
Seven nations have already confirmed participation and they include; Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Tanzania, Seychelles, Kenya and Sudan.
Besides playing for honors, the event will also double as a qualifying event for the Africa Junior Tennis Championship.
The teams will be under the watchful eye of coaches John Oduke and Edward Odocken for the boys and girls team respectively.
Uganda will be hosting this tournament for the second time in succession.
At the last edition in March. 2020, Uganda finished second and third in the girls and boys category respectively.
The teams:
Boys: Abdul Latif Ssenyondwa, Owecknimungu Tony Blair, Ambrose Byaruhanga.
Girls: Afoyorwoth Hilder, Stacy Namirembe and Latifah Kampi
The competition schedule:
Monday. 11th. October. 2021 _ Teams’ arrival.
Tuesday. 12th. to Saturday. 16th. October. 2021 _ the games.
Sunday. 17th. October. 2021 _ Teams’ departure.
By Joseph Mary Ssempiira www.sportznow.ug writer.
