Lubulwa blames his current state on A lost medal

Uganda has been criticised for forgetting its sportsmen even when they fly the country’s flag high. In an eight-part series, Glory Days Gone, Swaib Raul Kanyike traces some of these sportsmen. In the first part is Charles Lubulwa, who was a household name in the boxing circles. He represented Uganda thrice at the Olympics, and has coached a good number of boxers. He is now the head coach at the Kampala Capital City Authority Boxing Club but obviously not living his dream.

Catching up with Charles Lubulwa is always memorable. He is full of life and banter. But behind his smile is a story of a broken man. Like most of his contemporaries, life after their glory days has been tough. He is shy to open up about it, but as a person I have known for some years, it is evident.

Boxing background
Lubulwa’s birthplace, Naguru, was a hub of sporting personalities. Legendary sportsmen such as Philip Omondi (soccer), boxers Dick Katende, John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi, Godfrey Nyakana, Vitalis Bbege, Hussein ‘Juba’ Khalil and John Munduga, to mention just a few, all cut their sporting teeth in Naguru.
Despite a good number of soccer players, cricketers, rugby players and basketball players hailing from Naguru, it was a place known mostly for its boxers. Thus, Lubulwa’s interest in the game was well documented from a tender age.

He started to practise boxing while at St Jude Primary School, Naguru, which rubbed his father the wrong way.
“He was a strict man who never wanted to see us boxing. He naturally hated the game of boxing and never wished to see any of his children taking it up,” he recalls.
But Lubulwa got involved in it without his father’s knowledge. As a Primary Schoolpupil, in 1977, he had already boxed his way into the national juniors’ tournament.
The following year, Lubulwa’s father transferred him to St Charles Lwanga, Masaka, for his O-Level studies. This was intended to keep him away from the game, but instead it inspired him to work even harder.
“It was too late because I had already tasted the ‘sweet science’ that boxing is. I actually introduced boxing to St Charles Lwanga because when I joined the school, I kept training, albeit underground.”
Before long, his schoolmates started picking it up and some ended up boxers.

Introducing boxing to St Charles Lwanga
During his first two years in the school, Lubulwa kept training. He could only do shadow-boxing and roadwork because there were neither boxers nor equipment. And besides, the school administration never accepted boxing. Fred Genza (Rip), his coach, had not forgotten about his boxer. One day, he went to St Charles Lwanga and convinced the school authorities to release him for the 1980 novices, inter-mediate and national open games.
“At first, the headmaster was hesitant to let me leave because I was a very small boy and he couldn’t be convinced that I was a boxer. But finally, he released me and I headed to Kampala with coach [Genza],” recalls Lubulwa.

To hide from his father back in Kampala, Lubulwa was staying at Genza’s home.
Despite the inadequate training and preparations, Lubulwa put up a commendable show; winning sliver in the novices category, losing to Kilembe’s Stanley Baluku. He returned the “favour” in the intermediates, beating Baluku by a technical knockout (TKO), but lost to Khalil in the open category. His schoolmates were following the news and on return, he was accorded him a heroic welcome.
“I became the most sought-after student in the school and the headmaster gave me permission to start training openly. Other students joined in and boxing became one of the biggest games in the school. I can proudly say that I introduced it there,” he boasts.

Moscow Olympics at age 16
For a 16-year-old to perform like that, national team coach, Peter Grace Sseruwagi, was convinced and selected Lubulwa to the team that represented Uganda at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Russia, as a Lightfly (48kgs). The other boxers on the team were John Siryakibbe, Geoffrey Nyeko, John Munduga, John ‘The Beast’ Mugabi, George Kabuto and Peter Odhiambo.
Lubulwa was knocked out in his first match, losing to Hungarian György Gedó. “My opponent was very experienced. He was 30 years old and had won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. So, I was basically like his student,” says Lubulwa.

Despite the loss, Sseruwagi was convinced that Lubulwa’s career was headed for the stars. He was also part of the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, but could only reach the quarterfinals. Jonathan Kirisa was the only Uganda to return with a medal; a silver.
Fast forward to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA. On the team that had Kirisa, Nyeko, William Bagonza, John Kakooza, William Galiwango, Peter Okumu, Vicky Byarugaba, Ludovic Owiny and Patrick Lihanda, Lubulwa was the last Ugandan to lose, falling to Nigerian Peter Konyegwachie in the quarterfinals, who went on to win a silver medal.
However, his persistence paid off in 1985 when he won Gold in the Inter-Cup Boxing Championships in Stuttgart, Germany plus a bronze two years later.

Disaster strikes at 1990 CWG
At the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, Lubulwa, the captain, was the most experienced member of the team and one of the medal hopefuls. However, his previous demons at major events came back to haunt him.
“I left Kampala with a malaria parasite and fell sick on the way. The fever was too much, I could barely stand. When we reached there, the doctors advised me not to fight, for the sake of my future.

“This was a disappointment because unlike before, I had trained well for this tournament and had grown in confidence. I almost collapsed when the doctors broke the disturbing news to me,” he says, in a broken tone.
Godfrey Nyakana and Justn ‘The Ugandan Destroyer’ Jjuuko went on to win gold, while Charles Matata and Joseph Abdu Kaddu bagged bronze.
The disappointment, Lubulwa says, was too much to overcome, and he started to lose interest in the game. He reluctantly boxed at the 1991 Federation of East, Central and Southern African Games (Fescaba) in Namibia, where he bagged silver, before giving it one last go in the 1991 All Africa Games in Cairo, Egypt and lost in the quarterfinals. But his brother, Muteweta, clinched gold.

Clearly, he had reached the peak of the anthill and decided to take a rest from boxing, which rest eventually led to retirement. He started coaching at the Kampala City Council Boxing Club where he still is.

No gains at the Seoul Olympics
At this event, Lubulwa had been elected the national team captain. Round about this time, he had also convinced his brother, Fred Muteweta, to join boxing, and they were both on the team that played at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
However, they were both brought to their knees by Nigerian Blessing Onoko and Irish Wayne McCullough respectively. None of the other boxers; Emmanuel Nsubuga, Edward Obewa, Dan Odindo, Kazmir Omona, JB Waigo and Frank Wanyama managed a medal. Lubulwa believes that boxing was now on the decline due to limited government support.
“President Museveni was still new in the system and trying to rebuild the nation that was reeling from the effects of the war,” he reasons.

Lost medal sparks misery

Lubulwa believes that could have been different if his Inter-Cup Gold medal hadn’t gone lost at parliament in 1986.
He talks of a Ministry of Sports official who had taken the medal to Parliament to have Lubulwa honored for his achievement.
“However, as Parliament was sitting, there was commotion in town that Kampala had fallen to the (NRA) rebels. So everyone took on their heels. That’s how the medal got lost,” he says, somehow resisting tears.
According to him, some boxers who had won Gold in various tournaments were earning from their sweat because the previous government was paying them for each medal won.

“In some instances, some companies would also pay you to have these medals as mementos. So I was always sure that I was going to earn some money,” he reasons.
As a person who always fell at stage where it mattered most, Lubulwa’s gold medal was so priceless that he still blames his current predicament on its loss.