Sunday, May 7

Men

• Kampala Rockets 69-74 UCU Canons
• KIU Titans 84-71 KCCA Panthers

Women

• Kampala University 62-47 Angels
• Nkumba Lady Marines 40-84 Magic Stormers

UCU Canons made a late charge to register a 74-69 victory against Kampala Rockets in the National Basketball League at YMCA, Wandegeya on Sunday evening.

Peter Sifuma scored a team-high 16 points and picked 18 rebounds for the Mukono based to register back-to-back wins in the just concluded weekend.

The newly promoted side kicked off right away with a perfect start winning the first quarter 21-12.

Kampala Rockets fell in the second quarter trailing by five points (14-19) but went into the long break with a four-point lead (35-31).

The Canons (6-3) returned a better side picking timely rebounds and distributing the ball with the perfect rhythm.

The third quarter ended at 54-52 as the Rockets had a narrow lead but in the fourth quarter, they levelled at 69-69 with 01:12 left on the clock before Jerry Samson Kayanja made a 3-point jump shoot and Ibanda Lwabaga concluded the party with a 2-point lay up.

The Cannons created a five-point gap to pick their successive win after beating RezLife Saints 87-35 on Saturday.

It was the sixth victory for Nicholas Natuhereza’s coached side who have also lost three in the nine games played so far.

City Oilers head coach Mandy Juruni says it was a good experience playing at the Basketball Africa League that was held in Cairo, Egypt.

Despite not making it to the playoff in Kigali, City Oilers picked several lessons going forward and for the tournaments to come.

The Ugandan side’s journey came to an end after failing to go past South Africa’s Cape Town Tigers in an 80-70 loss.

“It was a good experience,” Juruni said shortly after the end of the game before adding; “We had some good games, we had some great moments but had some bad moments as well.”

“But competitions are like that. This is a high competition in terms of clubs’ basketball in Africa, so for us to here and compete against the best on the continent is an honour,” he stressed.

The Oilers needed a win to squeeze in the last four who will play the BAL playoffs later on but the dream was shunned.

“We were a bit flat on defence. I do not think we did a good job of making consistent stops. They shot the ball, they drove the ball and we did not have the firepower in us.”

“Our efficiency was not good as on Friday and I think the other team also did a good job trying to stop our two scorers. Maybe the other guys should have come in to give us the lift.”

Germaine Roebuck Jr’s injury was a great blow to Juruni’s troops who greatly missed his drive. The burden was left to Falando Jones who managed to score 27 points while James Justice Jr had a bad day scoring only nine.

The oilers finished the group with only one win from five games. Their only win came against CFV de Beira in the second-last game of the fixture.

“We have learnt a lot and we are happy to be here to represent our club and country,” he concluded.

Saturday, May 6

• Cape Town 80-70 City Oilers

City Oilers suffered a big blow by exiting of Basketball Africa League after falling to Cape Town Tigers in an 80-70 loss on Saturday evening.

The Ugandan side played this game having it at the back of their mind that it was their ticket to Kigali if they win but also a ticket back to Kampala if they lose.

The South African side won the first quarter after edging City Oilers by three points 20-17.

But Mandy Juruni’s side won the second quarter 20-17 and the two sides went in the long break levelled at 37-37 to set the perfect stage for a thrilling duel.

After recess, it was end-to-end action as both sides shared possession but with less than two minutes in the third quarter. Samkelo Cele converted three successive shots to create a six-point lead.

Titus Odeke responded with a 3-point jump shot to reduce the deficit but Parby Musongela recreated the seven-point lead at the end of the quarter.

The fourth block was more interesting as Fayed Bbaale put in a big three with 2.34 left on the clock but Pieter Prinslo responded with a three to extend the lead.

The final whistle was blown while City Oilers were trailing by 10 points.

Falando Jones topped the scoring chart of the Oilers with 27 points and was the only player with double figures from the home side.

It was the fourth loss for City Oilers who only managed to pick a win against Mozambique’s Ferroviato da Beira (96-75).

Ugandan netball star Peace Proscovia Drajole Agondua has been ruled out of the rest of the 2023 Netball Super League campaign due to medical reasons.

Peace had featured for her side Surrey Storm for 15 appearances, scoring 564 goals from 596 goal shots during this year.

According to a statement released by Surrey Storm, Peace will continue off-court duties while she sits out the rest of the season.

“We are sad to announce Bartercard Surrey Storm Goal Shooter, Proscovia Peace has withdrawn from the rest of the NSL season on medical grounds,” part of the statement read.

“Peace will remain a part of the Bartercard Surrey Storm squad/family for the rest of this season and will continue her commitments off the court.”

Peace is currently the league’s top goal scorer at 520 goals and was awarded the Gilbert Golden Shot award for the 2022 season as the Top Goal scorer with 853 goals.

The Goal Shooter began her professional career with the Netball Superleague team Loughborough Lightning and has also played for the Super Netball team Sunshine Coast Lightning.

Internationally, she captained the Ugandan teams that won the 2013 Netball Singapore Nations Cup, and the 2017 African Netball Championship.

Fixtures | Friday May 5

• City Oilers vs Ferroviaro Beira
• Petro de Atletico vs Al Ahly

City Oilers head coach Mandy Juruni has emphasized the sensitivity of their next game in the Basketball Africa League in the Nile Conference being held in Cairo, Egypt.

The Ugandan side has so far lost three games at the ongoing tournament and seeks a comeback when they face Ferroviaro Beira on Friday evening.

“We have no room to mess up,” Juruni said ahead of the clinical clash against the side from Mozambique.

“We have to do all it takes to keep ourselves alive so we understand what is ahead of us but most importantly we have to focus on the things that need to be done so that we win,” he added.

City Oilers’ most recent loss came against Guinea’s SLAC in a 96-68 loss to fall to a 0-3 record. In that game, the Oilers looked so down and mentally off.

But Juruni believes his charges are now in a better place mentally and hope for a smarter performance far from what they staged in the previous game.

“We have been preparing mentally. We have had numerous sessions with the boys, one-on-one just to try and prepare them mentally.

“We have watched the film of the last game and we highlighted a number of mistakes that are correctable. After the training and the talks we had, I feel good about the mood.

“The players also had their own meeting (as players only) so we have done everything to prepare ourselves for the game ahead.

“These are teams (Ferroviaro Beira and Cape Town Tigers ) we are very familiar with having played them in the Road to BAL to get here but this is a different stage and we are in the position where we have to win,” he concluded.

Another loss for Juruni’s troops will mean they are automatically out of the picture for a slot in the BAL playoffs that will be held in Kigali, Rwanda from May 21st to 28th.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

• City Oilers 68-96 SLAC
• Cape Town 75-91 Al Ahly

City Oilers head coach Mandy Juruni was a very disappointed man after his side lost the third game of the Basketball Africa League in the Nile Conference.

Juruni highlighted the lack of effort as the reason why his troops fell to Guinea’s SLAC in a 96-68 loss to slump to a 0-3 record at the grand stage.

“We just did not compete,” Juruni said shortly after a disappointing result in a game they badly wanted to end the poor run.

“So many layups given away, so many assists gone the wrong side and it summed up how we lacked the togetherness in the game. All that contributed to the pour show and we got punished,” he added.

SLAC exhibited a high class of hunger as they started with the perfect rhythm to take a 24-13 lead after the first quarter.

Guinea’s side carried the lead to the second quarter carding a 20-12 lead ensuring they go to the long break with the scoreboard reading 44-25.

“If you come to play these games, these teams, you have to be mentally and physically ready. I thought we were not mentally and physically ready to play this game.”

“They (SLAC) scored very many points in the paint, we had 20 turnovers, and they scored 19 points off of that. They scored so many uncontested shots,” he underlined.

“We have to show how tough we are. We have two must-win games, and we believe in this team. We believe we can be a better team.”

James Justice Jr topped the scoring list with 30 points while Falando Jones added 20 but all this could not hurt SLAC.

According to Juruni, they picked several lessons from the challenge and will go back to the training ground to try and fix how to return physically and mentally better.

The Oilers tried to have the last kick of the horse but it was too late and the Ugandan Champions fell trailing to 28 points in a one-sided encounter.

They have already lost to Petro de Luanda and Al Ahly and the most recent defeat to SLAC darkened the journey to Kigali as it kicked off the exit story.

Jane Asinde has joined the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) for the 2023-24 NCAA season.

The Ugandan power forward moves to UTEP Miners after a couple of seasons with Wichita State University Shockers.

At UTEP, Asinde links up with coach Keitha Adams under whom she worked at Wichita during her two seasons with the Shockers.

During the 2022-23 season, Asinde was named on the All-Conference third team.

She led Shockers in points (13.1), rebounds (9.8), blocks (26), and field goal percentage (49.2 %) and ranked second in steals with 59.

The Gazelles star recorded 11 double-doubles, had 21 games with 10 or more points and had a career-high 27 points to go with 12 rebounds vs. Tulsa on February 15.

International Ludo Federation (ILF) Rankings 2023:

• 1^st: Uganda – 105 points
• 2^nd: India – 90 points
• 3^rd: Brazil – 88 points

Uganda is on the top of the International Ludo Federation (ILF) rankings for the very first time.

According to the latest rankings released at the end of April by the international Ludo governing body, Uganda has dislodged global powerhouses India and Brazil.

Uganda has amassed a total of 105 points, fifteen better than second-placed India (90 points).

South American giants Brazil is third with 88 points.

This is the first time that an African country is ranked first on the Ludo global rankings.

Uganda’s rise is attributed to stellar performances from the 2020-2022 seasons.

The rankings are based on a number of perimeters that included domestic leagues, national leadership, participation in rated tournaments, performance in rated tournaments and International leadership.

In performances, Uganda was heads and shoulders above the rest during the stipulated period (2020-2022) with Nansana Galaxy Ludo Club winning the 2020 Africa Ludo Club Championship (ALCC) in Dubai.

The Uganda Ludo national team (Uganda Doves) won the 2021 Africa Ludo Cup Of Nations (AL-CON) as well as the 2022 World Ludo Championship (World Cup) in Nepal and Dubai despite being debutants.

Hussein Kalule, the president of the Uganda Ludo Federation (ULF) is humbled by the progress of the game of Ludo in Uganda.

We thank GOD for enabling us to reach this milestone but all in all we expected it. We have come from far and we have won everything that has come our way as Uganda as far as the mind game of Ludo is concerned from Africa to the International stage. We promise Ugandans that we shall stay afloat with enough support from Government.

Hussein Kalule, the president of Uganda Ludo Federation (ULF)

Future plans:

Kalule has set its eyes on the inaugural Ludo schools’ edition to tap and develop new talents.

“This year, we are embarking on Ludo in schools starting with Secondary Schools this year so that we can get future National team stars that will represent the country since the current players are soon retiring from national duty.” Remarks Kalule, also the president of the Africa Ludo Federation (ALF) and vice president International Ludo Federation (ILF).

Upcoming engagements:

Uganda will have two high-profile international tournaments in 2023.

The national team (Uganda Doves) will travel to South Africa in September 2023 to defend the (AL-CON) trophy.

Then, in November 2023, Uganda will also compete in the International Ludo Individual Champions (Dubai).

Fixtures | Tuesday, May 2

• City Oilers vs SLAC
• Cape Town vs Al Ahly

City Oilers star Jimmy Enabu has called upon teammates to do all it takes to see that they pick a victory against SLAC tomorrow.

The record eight-time National Basketball League champions have not picked a win at the Basketball Africa League after falling to Petro de Luanda and Al Ahly.

City Oilers have a chance to bring the run to an end as they take on Guinea side SLAC and Enabu believes it’s up to them to do the job.

“We need to redeem ourselves,” Enabu said shortly after the last training ahead of the important clash.

“The feeling is we lost the first two games and we need to win the next game. Getting a victory will give us the best of momentum going forward, create confidence in the camp and put us in a better place to compete and fight for a place in Kigali,” he added.

“I think we are working, we can only know how far we have gotten better. We need to share the ball more and get everyone involved on the offensive end pick each other up and we shall be good to go.”

The guard emphasised that the opponent ahead of them is a decent one but also underlined how they can go ahead to punish the Guinea side.

“They (SLAC) are a good team and also a hustle team. They play a lot of hustle defence and give many shots so I think we need to be ready to take advantage of their loopholes more so in the defence and play with more pace,” Enabu underlined.

The Oilers will have to win all their remaining games against SLAC, Cape Town, and Ferroviario da Beira if they are to progress to the playoffs that are set to be played in Kigali later this month.

“Winning a basketball game will be the best for us because it will be a source of confidence and also lighten up our way to Kigali because it’s the next level, so the game is so important to us and we shall treat it with the deserved attention it deserves,” he concluded.

The Ugandan side will be ignited by their sprinted performance in their previous game against the tournament hosts Al Ahly which saw them fight from 33 points down only to lose by only two.

Saturday, April 29, 2023

1. KCCA 41-46 Prisons
2. NIC 48-45 Weyonje
3. UCU 44-41 Police
4. UPDF 52-46 Africa RU
5. M/Life Sport 46-36 Busia

Uganda Prisons registered a sweet victory after edging rivals KCCA 46-41 to clinch the Uganda Netball Super League title on Saturday evening.

It was a close contest that pulled a mammoth crowd at Kamwokya Community Sports Centre.

KCCA came in this duel on top of the table with 37 points and only needed to avoid defeat so that they can claim all bragging rights.

While Prisons were at 36 and needed maximum points to go on top of the log and hence clinch the silverware.

Christine Namulumba led the party scoring 29 goals giving the Prison Warden the required momentum needed to be champions.

She climaxed the tournament as the league’s top scorer with 791 goals in 20 games. Her brilliance has been tremendous to see that Prisons win this year’s championship.

KCCA started on the front foot winning the first quarter with an 11-10 run but the Luzira-based side was much better in the second quarter.

The scoreboard read 20-21 by the end of the second quarter sending both sides to the resting room and hence energizing ahead of the third and fourth quarters.

Prison won both the third and fourth quarters hence opening the party that was led by the Uganda Prisons band as the crowd got on their feet in jubilation.