Uganda ready for serve off in Togo
Team Uganda will compete in the Africa Junior Championships. PHOTO/COURTSEY
What you need to know:
The trio made the Africa Junior Championship cut after qualifying through the East African Regional Zonals tournament held in Bujumbura, Burundi in January.
As the 2023 International Tennis Federation (ITF)/ Confederation of African Tennis Individual (CAT) Africa Junior Championship 2023 kicks off on Thursday at the Stade Omnisport in Lome, Togo, Uganda will have hope in three individuals.
Latif Ssendyowa and Jonah Ssentongo in the boys’ category and Claire Nalubuula for the girls are Uganda’s flag bearers in Togo having arrived yesterday with coach Edward Odockcen.
The trio will be in action until March 21 hope to leave a mark on the continent.
The trio made the Africa Junior Championship cut after qualifying through the East African Regional Zonals tournament held in Bujumbura, Burundi in January.
Ssendyowa and Ssentongo were finalists in the doubles draw of the zonal championship and also finished ranked 2nd and 4th in the singles draw in the U-14 age category.
The pair will also follow in the footsteps of Troy Adrian Zziwa and Trevor Kazibwe who represented Uganda at the Africa Individual Junior Championship in Tunisia last year.
For Nalubuula, his presence at the continental showpiece comes as a milestone of sorts.
It makes her the first Ugandan girl at the event since Lydia Ndagire managed the feat over 12 years ago. Nalubuula is also ranked 76 on the continent.
Proficient and tested coach, Odockcen, finds himself in familiar surroundings in Togo. Tournaments of this calibre are not something new to him.
He has led teams to the AJC U-12 final event twice in 2019 in Morocco and Maputo in 2022. He only missed out in 2020 due to the Omicron outbreak as well as the AJCCC Tunisia U-14 final event.
