Africa-Press – Uganda. Dickens Otim is one of the senior players on the Uganda men’s volleyball team and many would have expected to see more of him at the CAVB Volleyball African Nations Championship.
However, the centre-blocker found playing time hard to come by in Kigali, Rwanda, in Shilla Omuriwe’s first trip with the national team. Bernard Malinga and Samuel Engwau were Omuriwe’s starting centre pair and Otim spent most of the tournament on the bench.
“I’m actually happy the burden on me was not that much this time round,” Otim told Daily Monitor.
“Maybe if we had not performed I would be sad but we performed well as a team.”
Otim is the quickest of all the middle players and helps move the defensive block in attack every time he goes up. However, both Malinga and Engwau and slower but taller and offer a higher block.
Less time with team
Omuriwe told Daily Monitor that Otim’s playing time was mainly affected by the little time he had with the team during preparations.
“He had only four days in camp and no time to click with the setters on the offense,” she said. “He’s very fast so his balls have to be released faster.”
The former Cranes skipper made impact through the middle every time his number was called but failed to dislodge any of the two starting centres.
Uganda, playing at the championship for the first time, featured a team of both the experienced and the new kids on the block.
In the absence of players like Ivan Ongom and Cuthbert Malinga, Gideon Angiro and Allan Ejiet got the opportunity to play.
Uganda finished fifth out of 16 teams after defeating Rwanda 3-1 in the fifth-place playoff.
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