U-17 girls itch for World Cup chance

Anxious. Juliet Nalukenge is hopeful the final qualification round will happen next month. PHOTO | ISMAIL KEZAALA

What you need to know:

  • Matter Of Time. Sunday Monitor has learnt that authorities including the National Council of Sports, Prime Minister and National Task Force on Covid-19 agreed in general principal that sport resumes albeit with strict as Standard Operation Procedures as has been the case elsewhere.

Social media has been awash this week with reports of President Museveni addressing the public about the state of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the sectors that eagerly anticipated his speech and categorised tweets included sports which is yet to resume since the lockdown was announced in March.
Sunday Monitor understands only the president’s approval remains following various meetings involving government and various sports agencies.
“We are good to go. The main worry is of the community infection rates everyday. But I have a special communication from the people who matter,” National Council of Sports (NCS) General Secretary Dr Bernard Patrick Ogwel revealed.
“That, however, was a week ago but the scientific team approved our dossier. The next step is government making the announcement. When we met the Prime Minister (Dr Ruhakana Rugunda) it was agreed in general principal that sport resumes.”
International engagements
The news will sound like music to the ears of the sports community especially with various international engagements including the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Qualifiers, the Women Under 17 World Cup final qualification round against Cameroon and the AfroBasket for the men’s side Silverbacks, all expected to happen in the next two months.
“Consultations were still going on with the scientific teams but I think when the Education and Sports Minister and minister of State for Sports consulted widely there were no objections although they gave tight conditions,” Ogwel added.

Fufa are seeking permission to conclude the promotional playoffs and also take the Uganda U17 Girls’ national team to camp ahead of the first leg of the final qualifier against Cameroon expected to be played at the end of October in Kampala.
‘There is a need to return to the fields of play by yesterday rather than tomorrow. FUFA continues to engage Government through the National Council of Sports and Ministry of Health on how football can best return, even without fans in respect of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s)’ Fufa Deputy CEO Decolas Kiiza noted during a meeting between the federation and club chairpersons on Monday.
Domestic basketball governing body Fuba are similarly targeting a two weeks camp in Alexandria, Egypt to enable the foreign based players gel with our locally based players ahead of the 2021 AfroBasket men’s qualifiers due in November.
“If you don’t take part or even fail to qualify, it will take us another four years to get back to the international stage of basketball for our senior men’s team, the Silverbacks stated Fuba President Nasser Sserunjogi.
The latest developments however come at a time when the Ministry of Health announced 155 new Covid-19 cases bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 2,679.
Two new deaths were also recorded to bring the total Covid-19 deaths to 28.

Fufa are seeking permission to conclude the promotional playoffs and also take the Uganda U-17 girls’ national team to camp ahead of the first leg of the final qualifier against Cameroon expected to be played at the end of October in Kampala.
‘There is a need to return to the fields of play by yesterday rather than tomorrow. Fufa continues to engage government through the NCS and Ministry of Health on how football can best return, even without fans in respect of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs),” Fufa Deputy CEO Decolas Kiiza noted during a meeting between the federation and club chairpersons on Monday.
Alexandria camp
Domestic basketball governing body Fuba are similarly targeting a two weeks camp in Alexandria, Egypt to enable the foreign based players gel with our locally based players ahead of the 2021 AfroBasket men’s qualifiers due in November.
“If you don’t take part or even fail to qualify, it will take us another four years to get back to the international stage of basketball for our senior men’s team, the Silverbacks,” stated Fuba president Nasser Sserunjogi.
The latest developments however come at a time when the Ministry of Health announced 77 new Covid-19 cases bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 2,756 by press time.
Two new deaths were also recorded to bring the total Covid-19 deaths to 28.