Wananchi expected to challenge for title without recuperating goalkeeper Ochan
Wananchi keeper Ochan continues to fight for full recovery at Kitante Hospital. PHOTO BY MAKHTUM MUZIRANSA.
KAMPALA- The final round of the Uganda Baati Hockey League starts today with a title defining encounter for defending champions Wananchi.They have 38 points from 15 games and trail leaders Weatherhead, who have played three more games, by nine points.
By the magnitude of fixtures in hand and going by their previous record, Wananchi can easily close the nine point gap with wins over Makerere University, Rockets and the boycotting City Lions but the league organisers have made it trickier.
Wananchi will first have to negotiate a fourth round fixture with another rival Kampala Hockey Club (KHC) Stallions, who are all but out of the title race with 29 points in 18 games, before their pending round three fixtures are addressed.
Matches between the two rivals remain a feisty affair and KHC will be happy to play spoilers in a title fight. Worryingly, Wananchi are set to negotiate this important part of the season without their extremely talented goalkeeper Joseph Ochan who is nursing injuries, from a previous road accident, at Kitante Hospital.
The accident that happened on November 2 along Kampala-Lira road, gruesomely claimed the life of Ochan’s uncle Allan Odong - who also served as a popular national hockey stadium groundsman since March 2008. The two were travelling in an army track, with a couple of soldiers, to Lira, where they were transferring a boxing gym. As recent as Wednesday, Ochan was still complaining of “unusual pain” in his body “especially the head”.
His situation has attracted sympathy from within the fraternity while his uncle Odong - buried on November 4 in Pader - continues to be missed in Lugogo, where he had turned into a dependable servant of all sports federations at the complex.
