Egypt overpower Uganda
Ugandan players and officials celebrate after beating Burundi at Lugogo on Tuesday night. Photo by Ismail Kezaala
KAMPALA. The home crowd couldn’t rally Uganda to victory over Egypt in the Zone V All Africa Games qualifiers at Lugogo last evening.
The Egyptians romped to a 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-23) straight sets victory in a game the hosts struggled to deal with the Arabs’ attack especially on the net. “When we were two sets down and had the Egyptians on the wall in the third set, the inexperience in some of the younger players let us down,” Uganda’s captain Josephine Nammanda said after the game.
“We didn’t know how to hold our nerve when it mattered most but we shall come back stronger against Ethiopia,” she added.
The Lady Volleyball Cranes had earlier on Tuesday eased past Burundi 3-0 (25-14, 25-8, 25-11).
The win against Burundi though wasn’t anywhere close to a convincing performance from the Ugandan side. Burundi struggled with their service, reception, block and attack, and didn’t pose any challenge to put Uganda in awkward situations during the match.
At times, the hosts looked bored on court as complacency took its toll in a game Peace Busingye, Joan Nabuuto, Zaina Kagoya, Winnie Nakabuubi, Margaret Namyalo and Gloria Nantege all won International debuts.
“They never gave us any challenge, everyone was on court and didn’t enjoy the game one bit,” Nammanda noted.
Uganda must beat Ethiopia, Kenya
Next for Nammanda and group is Ethiopia. The closest Uganda has gotten to watching Ethiopia play was at the 2013 African Women Clubs Championship in Madagascar where Water Sport finished 10th out of 15 clubs.
Uganda will play Ethiopia at 10am then at noon Egypt will entertain Burundi since the MTN Arena in Lugogo turns into a church every Thursday afternoons. To stand a chance of making the All Africa Games, Uganda must win today and beat the highly-fancied Kenya on Saturday.
