Prisons bullish on woodball national league debut

Dream start. Rugongeza drags the ball out of the bunker during Saturday’s first league outing. PHOTO/George Katongole

What you need to know:

The Luzira side beat Eminents, a team that is powered by seasoned Thomas Keddi, 2-1 before they picked a similar score against Mubs

Pre-tournament favourites, Prisons, who are playing on their debut season, began in a bullish form in the Buganda Land Board-sponsored woodball league, winning three out of four of their opening day fixtures at Makerere University on Saturday.
The Luzira side beat Eminents, a team that is powered by seasoned Thomas Keddi, 2-1 before they picked a similar score against Mubs. 

When they went into idle mode against Makerere University, they were shocked with a 2-1 loss but a resounding 3-0 win over fellow debutants Bonna Baana ensured a great start to the season.
Samson Rugongeza, the Prisons captain, was in awe of the performance.

“This is beyond what we expected. We met three teams that are veterans in the league but defeating them was an awesome experience. Losing to Makerere though, which was more inferior compared to Eminents and Mubs, was frustrating,” Rugongeza said.
He was philosophical about his team’s performance conceding that he was “not completely happy”.
“We can’t be completely happy with the loss to Makerere. If you consider how we played I am disappointed because the players relaxed but it is clear that we now need to respond and get the job done,” Rugongeza said.

The league is played on the fairway format instead of the usual stroke competition. In fairway, the winner of a particular fairway is the winner unlike in stroke competition where every stroke counts.
“There’s a lot of pressure in fairway. You have to play the opponent unlike in the stroke where you focus more on the course. We’ll now train together in the fairway format to increase the competitiveness,” he added.

Defending champions Ndejje University were in a spot of bother after losing to University of Kisubi 3-0.
Team captain Dennis Mugambe did not take the loss lightly and wants his teammates to bring their A-game during the next outing on the last Saturday of May at Kyambogo University.
“As defending champions we need to do better. Much as most of us are playing in the league for the first time, we have to defend the championship. We need to work on the pressure,” Mugambe said.

Lessons for GMSEC
Joan Najjuma is one of the most experienced players at new entrants GMSEC in the women’s league having featured for Bugema University in the Corporate category. She is joined by budding stars Charlotte Natukunda and Amina Nalujja (joined from Air Force SS).
In the singles, GMSEC were out washed registering zero points only getting two points in the doubles against Makerere.

“I think we can manage to do better. I saw the mistakes of the big name players and we shall try to focus on our weak areas in training,” Joan Najjuma, whose Bugema University team pulled out of the league for religious issues, said.
The Seventh-Day Adventist institution does not attend events on Saturday.

BLB woodball league
WOMEN’s results

Eminents    1 -2     Lady Woodz
Mubs     3-0     Stroke
Makerere     2- 1     GMSEC
Ndejje     2- 1     Bonna Baana
Stroke     0-3     Eminents
GMSEC     1 -2     Lady Woodz
Bonna Baana     0-3     MUBS
Ndejje     3-0     Makerere
Eminents     3-0     GMSEC
Men’s results
Ndejje     2- 1     Zoe
Eminents     1 -2     Ndejje
Bonna Baana     1 -2     Univ of Kisubi
Mubs     3-0     Digel
Makerere     1 -2     Stroke
NCWC     1 -2     Eminents
Univ of Kisubi     3-0     Ndejje
Prisons     2- 1     Mubs
Stroke     3-0     Bonna Baana
Digel     2- 1    Makerere
Makerere     2- 1     Prisons
Mubs     0-3     NCWC
Ndejje     2- 1     Stroke
BBA     0-3     Digel
gkatongole@ug .nationmedia.com