KHC Swans throw down gauntlet in signing sisters

Kampala Hockey Club (KHC) technical director Henry Kafuuma believes their fans will be justified in expecting a competitive team after the addition of sisters Lucky Akello and Winnie Alaro to the ranks.

The duo have been courted by various clubs for a while but were only happy to join the Swans from reigning Uganda Baati National Hockey League women’s champions Deliverance Church earlier this week.

Alaro is the more experienced, having won the league first with Wananchi from 2015 to 2021.

She then helped DCU alongside Akello, who was named most valuable player in the competition last year, and is up for the challenge to do it with KHC too but warns that the rest of the team have to show their fighting spirit too.

“We have kept our squad from last season intact and made these additions of two of the league’s best players,” Kafuuma said.

“That not only means that we are ready to compete for silverware but also that the expectations from fans, opponents and even within us that we should indeed win things are highly justified,” he added.

The attraction

In Alaro, who joined the club for her first training session yesterday, KHC see a technically gifted player with the ability to strengthen their defence but also the ability to be useful in other areas on pitch.

Akello, on the other hand, is an industrious attacker who executes moves with strength and drive but she will first play for her school Kakungulu Memorial at the KHC Schools’ Festival due this weekend at Kyadondo SS, Matugga before joining the rest of the squad for next weekend’s season opener against Wananchi.

“These players are so proven that at a young age, they are already capped by the national team.

Lucky in particular has a lot of potential and I am sure that our culture of nurturing young talents is the right environment for her to become one of the best, if not the best player in the country,” Kafuuma said.