Mugabe loses to Kenya’s Changawa
Kenyan Ishmael Changawa in the Rak Tie-break tournament final at Lugogo.
What you need to know:
Uganda’s Mugabe was shocked as fans at Lugogo booed him while cheering the Kenyan.
KAMPALA- Ugandan top tennis seed Duncan Mugabe lost in five sets to Kenyan opponent Ishmael Changawa in the finals of the Rak Tie Break Tennis Championships at Jamal Ramji Centre Court, Lugogo on Saturday.
Mugabe started well by breaking his opponent, who beat Ugandan and championship second seed David Oringa in the semi finals on Friday, right from the game’s first serve to go 1-0 up in the first set.
But Changawa gained his composure to win the first and second sets 7-9, 4-7 much to the delight of the crowds, both local and foreign, who engaged and got behind him for all the 65minutes of lively action. Mugabe rallied himself back into the game levelling scores to two sets all by winning 11-9, 7-2 in the third and fourth sets.
Huge, flat strikes deep into the corners had the elastic Changawa scrambling in vain to recover, allowing Mugabe to get back into the game. “At that point, I lost focus and allowed him to get back into the game,” Changawa, who has now beaten Mugabe twice in two meetings admitted.
However, the exertion of hauling himself level at two sets all, after more than 40 minutes, took its toll on Mugabe as Changawa won the decisive fifth set 7-3 with relative ease to bag a trophy and the $1000 (Shs2.5m) cash prize to follow in the footsteps of his sister Shufa Changawa who won the women’s singles after beating Uganda’s Hasifa Nakiyingi 7-4, 7-3.
Mugabe who won himself $500 as runner up and an Olympic scholarship, from Uganda Olympic Committee chairman William Blick, to work on his conditioning tore into the crowd for getting behind the Kenyan.
