Ekiring aims for top spot, African title

Ekiring returns a shot at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. FILE PHOTO

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Badminton. Currently ranked 109th in the world, Edwin Ekiring wants to finish the year among the top 100.

KAMPALA. On November 22, 2012 Uganda’s badminton ace Edwin Ekiring woke up to news of being ranked 90th in the world. Todate, that remains his best positioning ever.
Today, he is ranked 109th but Ekiring believes he belongs in that class of the top 100. “My target is to end the year not only in the top 100 but to also better my best ever ranking,” Ekiring told Daily Monitor yesterday.
“I always say it’s not easy to get up there but the hard work I put in has brought me this far. I am hungry and eager to get better,” he added.
Ekiring saw his ranking improve despite an unimpressive performance at the World Championship two weeks ago.
He defeated Ukranian Dmytro Zavadsky 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) before losing to Indian Prannoy Kumar in similar fashion (21-14, 21-19) in the third round. The Netherlands-based player has made the number one spot on the continent his own with a total of 15330 points, 1446 points better than second-placed South African Jacob Maliekal.
With the All Africa Games due next month in Congo Brazzaville, has already made his intentions clear. “I want to go all the way. I want to win gold and I believe I have what it takes to do so and that will improve my ranking,” he said.
At the 2011 edition in Algeria, Ekiring won bronze, before losing to Maliekal four years ago in Maputo to settle for silver.