Archery federation ready to grow game after equipment donation
Uganda Archery Federation president Richard Asiimwe (L) receives the equipment from NCS general secretary Nicholas Muramagi recently. PHOTO BY ISMAIL KEZAALA
Kampala- The most widely covered local story in the past two months has been the wrangling between federations and National Council of Sports (NCS).
While some federations played ping pong with the regulatory body over fresh registration, Uganda Archery Federation (UAF), were busy going about their work.
Headed by Richard Asiimwe, the UAF executive has embarked on a long journey of spreading the game across the country with a view of sending a representative to the 2020 Olympic Games. Solomon Ssemukate, who won the Rwanda National Championship last year, has been earmarked as the country’s major prospect to qualify for the 2020 Games.
Previously grappling with lack of equipment, Asiimwe and company now have few worries following a donation from World Archery. “We got a donation of six bows and arrows worth Shs30m from World Archery.
We are very grateful and ready to take the game to the next level,” Asiimwe said in a recent interview. Like many other local sports bodies, UAF previously struggled to grow the game due to lack of basic equipment. “Before getting this, we only had six bows in the country,” UAF secretary general Dr Robert Zavuga chipped in.
“The equipment is so expensive for a poorly funded association like ours. That’s why this is a very big lift,” noted Zavuga before thanking NCS and Uganda Olympic Committee (UOC), who assisted the federation in clearing taxes worth Shs8.5m for the equipment.
The gear had been in the tax authorities’ stores for more than a month before NCS and UOC intervened. “One of the biggest challenges for sports federations in Uganda is paying taxes for equipment. Even when the equipment is a donation, we are always required to pay taxes which is not fair.” A complete set of archery equipment goes for Shs5m. Because such donations won’t come so often, UAF have improvised means of getting cheaper equipment.
“We have started making bows and arrows locally using plastic pipes. Although they can’t be used in competitions, we hope they serve the purpose in training. With more equipment, the game will spread up-country in a very short time,” noted Zavuga.
Besides established clubs like Makerere, Mandela, Uganda Police and UPDF, the federation plans to grow the sport by partnering with institutions of higher learning.
“We recently trained 10 national coaches (level one) and they must start work as soon as possible,” offered Zavuga. “We are going to send them in the country side to carry out coaching clinics.”
