The Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) has officially launched the FIBA Africa U18 Zone V Qualifiers which shall be hosted at the MTN Arena in Lugogo.

The tournament to be played in both categories (boys and girls) will run from 9^th to 14^th June 2024.

Ten (10) countries have already confirmed their participation in the week-long event. Uganda will be joined by Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Eritrea, Burundi, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

“The goal for both our teams is to qualify for the main event in South Africa with only one ticket available for the winner of this Zone V preliminaries,” Hudson Ssegamwenge, the head of the LOC and also the VP Administration FUBA, said of the targets.

“Aside from preparations that have been ongoing already, the teams will start residential camping this week before we tip off for the tournament,” Ssegamwenge added.

Uganda’s teams started preps last year with the first training camp held at KIU in Kansangaa with over 200 players.

“Our preparation has been immense, we started last year (2023). At the moment, I’d like to say that we are complete; we are only going to add one player,” John Omondi, the Head Coach of the U-18 Girls’ National team, said.

Ugandan amateur golfers Joseph Cwinya-ai and IbrahimBagalana will compete at the 2024 Zambia Amateur Golf Open Championship.

The Zambia Amateur Golf Open Championship is set to tee off on Friday, May 24 and run up to May 26 at the Lusaka Golf Club.

The two Ugandans go into the tournament with some from local tournaments. Cwinya-ai won the gross category for the 2024 Captain’s Bell at the par-72 Uganda Golf Club over the weekend. Bagalana came second.

“It was a good performance to win and this victory boosts my morale coming to the 2024 Zambia Open,” Cwinyaai said after the Captain’s Bell win.

Bagalana was runners-up at last year’s Uganda Open and will be looking to emulate Godfrey Nsubuga who won several tournaments outside Uganda including the Tanzania Open.

Black Pirates and Heathens RFC are the last two teams standing in the 2024 National Rugby Championship after qualifying for the Playoff Finals on Saturday.

Pirates qualified for the Championship Playoffs Final after beating Jinja Hippos while Heathens edged old foe KOBs in the semifinal ties.

Pirates bounced from a first-leg one-point defeat at Damwaters to knock out Hippos by 54-51 points having won the closely contested return leg played at King’s Park, 27-23.

Heathens lost the return-leg match at Kyadondo, 18-15, but they won 42-36 on aggregate points. The return leg was a contest off the kicking tee between youngsters Malcom Okello (Heathens) and Calvin Gizamba (KOBs) with each scoring all the points for their respective teams.

When the two finalists met during the regular season, Heathens beat Pirates 16-12 at Kyadondo.

However, according to media reports, the final will be hosted at Mandela National Stadium in Namboole on 1st June.

Halimah Nakaayi registered victory in the Women’s 800m at the Continental Tour Gold event at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The former world champion had the smallest margin of victory on day two, winning the 800m in 1:57.56, only six-thousands of a second ahead of Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia. It’s also the world-leading time over the event.

Nakaayi thus set a new National Record slashing microseconds off her previous best of 1:57.62 set last year at the Olympic Stadium in London.

The next stop for the Ugandan will be Eugene, Oregon where she will compete in the Diamond League next weekend.

Meanwhile, Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the 5000m race on Friday. The Ugandans were behind Ethiopians Selemon Barega and Berihu Eragawi.

The two Ugandan long-distance stars will go head-to-head again in Oslo on May 30th in the Diamond League meet.

NBL Fixtures | Wednesday, May 15

• Miracle Ravens vs Magic Stormers – 7pm
• KCCA Panthers vs Nam Blazers – 9pm

KCCA Panthers will take on top-of-the-table Namuwongo Blazers tonight in the National Basketball League at YMCA in Wandegeya.

Panthers (9-5) will be looking to upset Blazers (12-3) having lost the first-round fixture by 20 points (84-64) at Abja Park, the home of the Blazers.

KCCA come into the game on the back of a one-point win over Power while Namuwongo edged Ndejje Angels in their last out and coach Stephen Nyeko will be hoping for a better defensive effort from the team. Blazers were also pushed to the limit in the game against JT Jaguars they edged 62-60.

In the women’s division, Miracle Ravens will be looking to bounce back from recent disappointing performances when they face Magic Stormers.

Ravens have struggled in the second round, winning just two out of their five games and losing their last two fixtures but against Stormers, a team they beat in the first round of the season, Arnold Katabi will fancy his charges’ chances.

However, the Stormers have since strengthened their squad, notably adding star forward Zainah Lokwameri during the mid-season transfer window.

And the Stormers have shown significant improvement, winning two of their three games in the second round. They triumphed over the UPDF Lady Tomahawks and Kampala University but couldn’t match the power JKL Lady Dolphins.

Jas Mangat topped local crews but it was Kenyan driver Karan Patel who claimed the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally win in the Eastern district of Jinja.

The Pearl of Africa Rally doubled as the first round of the 2024 Africa Rally Championship and defending champion Patel picked maximum points.

Patel and co-driver Taussef Khan in the Skoda Fabia claimed eight stage wins out of the nine stages covered during the two-day event. They completed the rally in a time of 1:45:11.7

Mangat in a Hyundai i20 managed to secure second position completing the rally in 1:46:54.4 (1 minute and  42.7) seconds behind Patel.

Kenya’s Hamza Anwar completed the ARC podium in a time of 1:51:39.0.

In the national premier division, Ronald Ssebuguzi came second 13 minutes and 46.6 seconds behind Mangat with Ponsiano Lwakataka completing the podium.

Teen Cranes fell short against Zambia in the first leg of the Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup Qualifiers.

The Ugandan youngsters suffered a 2-0 Zambian counterparts at the National Heroes Stadium in Lusaka.

Goals from Namute Chelishe and Ruth Mukoma in either half condemned the Teen Cranes to the defeat that they will be looking to overturn in the return leg at St Mary’s Stadium Kitende on Friday, 17.

Teen Cranes started on a slow pace and were quickly pegged back early in the game as they conceded in the second minute before settling into the contest.

They however settled into the game after about 15 minutes and created some scoring opportunities that were not taken before Zambia got their second with about 20 minutes to play.

Uganda’s Starting XI: Nakiirya Lillian (GK), Natooro Desire Katisi (C), Namirimu Faridah, Kaluya Bethany, Kainza Joyce, Nalunkuuma Bushirah, Nangendo Esther, Aujat Dorine, Nabukenya Agnes, Nabirye Shadia, and Kabene Sylvia

Subs: Adeke Angella (GK), Nambuusi Ritah, Katusiime Charity, Namataka Mariam, Tamisi Shafiga, Namazzi Vanessa

Heathens RFC beat KOBs 29-18 in the first leg of the National Rugby Championship semifinal played at Legends Rugby Ground on Saturday.

Malcom Okello was the star of the evening as his 19 points off the tee (five penalties and two conversions) propelled Heathens to the victory that put them close to the finals at the expense of their rivals.

However, it was KOBs that got the early points opportunity but Joseph Aredo skewed his kick for points in the 3rd minute of the game before the Okello show, off the tee, started.

Josiah Ssempeke who came on for Cornrad Mukwaya took over the kicking duties and had three penalties and a try converted.

Malcom extended the lead to 15-03 before Heathens scored their opening try through Michael Wokorach which was converted to take the lead to 22-03

Sempeke added three more points but shortly after, Heathens scored a well-constructed try through Incocent Goktho, also converted by Okello.

KOBs started calling for the kicking tee but Sempeke missed back-to-back penalties before forwards put Heathens’ defense under immense pressure and came away with Mike Otto’s try that was converted before captain Derrick Tukwasibwe on the final play for a respectable score.

Heathens will host the return leg at Kyandondo next weekend.

Ugandan sprinter Tarsis Orogot Orogot shattered his own 200m National Record over the distance at SEC Championship in Gainesville on Saturday night.

The University of Alabama athlete claimed gold in the men’s 200-meter dash behind a personal-best 19.75. The junior recorded an NCAA-leading time and the third-fastest time in collegiate history.

The performance also secured Orogot the Ugandan national record, the East African record, a meet record and a University of Alabama school record.

At the same championships, Orogot finished fifth in the men’s 100-meter dash with a personal-best 10.06 which is also the fourth-fastest time in school’s history.

Orogot will return to action May 22-25 for the 2024 NCAA Outdoor East Preliminaries in Lexington, Kentuky.

There are two fresh faces as the Lady Rugby Cranes Sevens head to the Polish city of Kraków for the final leg of the World Rugby Sevens Challenger series.

The changes made in the squad to play at the tournament scheduled for May 18-19 are due to injury.

Gertrude Kateesa and Unity Namulala have replaced Sandra Amoli Lona and Racheal Mufuwa who featured in the opening two legs in Dubai and Montevideo.

Kateesa and Naamulala are not new to the set-up as they played at last year’s Safari Sevens where Uganda emerged as champions.

Lady Rugby Cranes 7s are currently placed fourth in the overall standings; tied on twenty-eight points with Belgium. Having reached the semifinals during both past rounds, another semifinal berth could be enough for them to book a ticket to the World Rugby SVNS Core Status Qualification Tournament in Madrid.

Argentina, Paraguay, and Papua New Guinea will be Uganda’s opponents during the pool phase of the two-day tournament.

The Squad

Lydia Namabiro, Mary Gloria Ayot, Grace Nabaggala, Sarah Kirabo, Juliet Nandawula, Maimuna Nassozi, Ritta Nadunga, Gertrude Kateesa*, Grace Auma, Agnes Nakuya, Unity Namulala*, Peace Lekuru (Captain)