Africa-Press – Uganda. Ugandan men and women hockey teams travel to Kenya tomorrow for the March 12-14 consolation engagements after their Africa Cup qualifiers were cancelled.
The sides were supposed to take part in the north and east Africa group qualifiers that were due March 1-8 in Nairobi, Kenya.
However, only the hosts and Uganda had confirmed their participation to Africa Hockey Federation (AfHF) by start of February. Tanzania, Seychelles, Sudan, Burundi and Egypt (women) did not commit to attend.
AfHF then decided to cancel the tournament and automatically qualify the male and women sides of the two neighbouring East African countries to the Africa Cup due January 2022 in Ghana.
“We agreed to a proposal from AfHF to have a series of games with the Kenyan teams that will help us prepare for January,” Uganda Hockey Association (UHA) assistant general secretary Stanley Tamale told Daily Monitor.
International ranking
The series ratified by International Hockey Federation (FIH) will also help Uganda attain a ranking, which they last had in 2007 when the senior men’s team last had an engagement – the 2008 Olympic qualifiers.
The ranking will help with seeding at the continental showpiece and “position ourselves for FIH support.”
Uganda will take a team of 21 men and 17 women players led by respective assistant coaches Vincent Kasasa and Sandra Namusoke.
Head coach Francesco Richichi is currently in Italy.
Of the 21 Hockey Cranes, only striker Thomas Opio was in the 2007 team while chef de mission and current general secretary Phillip Wafula played for the national team at their last Africa Cup in 2000 in Zimbabwe.
This will be a new experience for Uganda’s young team that also gets a chance to play on a water-based turf in Nairobi.
Kasasa will do without the trio of Italy-based Innocent Mbabali, Colline Batusa and Emmanuel Baguma, while Samuel Mwesiga and Peter Elolu are held up by work commitments.
“We’re down by five good players but I’m glad others have stepped up to close the gaps. I am particularly impressed by the performances of Stuart Kavuma, Brian Bayuule and Maxwell Mugisha of late,” Kasasa said.
“Having not had games for over a year, we’ve also improved greatly in terms of fitness, tactically, and there is better discipline and aggressiveness.”
For the Hockey She Cranes, Namusoke still decries the fact that she had a smaller pool to select from as most of those summoned could not commit.
“I’m impressed by the dedication of these 17 under the circumstances. We’ve been here since January and they’ve turned up consistently,” she said.
“We’ve improved greatly on ball movement but we still have fitness concerns because gyms are closed. We’re surviving on running and a few drills but that is something we can address later.”
