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Curtains come down on Feassa Gulu Games
Height Advantage. Penlope Amiya of St. Mary’s Kitende snaps up a loose ball ahead of Kaya Tiwi School’s Yvone Atieno during a netball game. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
What you need to know:
- All Sport. Without meaningful government support, the games have been heavily reliant on souces mobilized locally by the Gulu LC boss Martin Ojara Mapenduzi.
GULU. Business in the northen Uganda district of Gulu will return to normal at nightfall today following the conclusion of the annual Brookside East Africa Secondary School Games.
The 16th edition brought together 3500 students from over 200 schools across the region that have competed in the 13 disciplines.
Football, athletics, basketball, volleyball, handball, hockey, swimming, table tennis, badminton have been among the main sports. Kenya won 10 disciplines at last year’s event in Eldoret.
Hosts Uganda were at least guaranteed Gold in girls’ netball as 14-time champions St Mary’s Secondary School were facing country mates Bishop Sacrament School Kimanya by press time.
Today’s finals include hockey, handball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, rugby and swimming. All, bar rugby, include girls’ and boys’ competitions.These finals will be at St Joseph’s College Layibi and Pece War Memorial Stadium that has hosted the two-day athletics event that ended yesterday.
Feassa secretary David Ngugi things the annual event is important for regional integration and equated it to the Olympics.
“Feassa is a family bound to promote East Africa integration through sports,” Ngugi said.
Adding that; “Sports is a multi-billion industry. We prepare our students for this alternative source of employment. This is the biggest sports event in this region. It’s a youth Olympics.”
However, it would foolhardy to think that this event has been perfect. Facilities have been a major point of concern as Pece was only completed during the 10-day event.
