{"id":19553,"date":"2021-10-15T17:10:23","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T17:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=19553"},"modified":"2021-10-15T16:02:33","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T16:02:33","slug":"uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","title":{"rendered":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men\u2019s Twenty20 Sub-Regional World Cup Qualifier in the Rwandan capital Kigali.<\/p>\n

When Uganda lock horns with Malawi in the two nations\u2019 opening match at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Center (IPRC) Oval in Kicukiro, it will literally be a case of two Siamese twins between Laurence Mahatlane of Uganda and Arjun Menon of Malawi battling for bragging rights on who\u2019s turned out to be better at the coaching profession.<\/p>\n

Interesting background<\/b><\/p>\n

South Africa national Mahatlane and Singaporean Menon first met in South Africa in 2011 and their \u2018brotherhood\u2019 has grown from strength to strength. Mahatlane was even the Master of Ceremonies at Menon\u2019s wedding ceremony in Krugersdorp, South Africa in 2014.<\/p>\n

As both shared a warm embrace on their first reunion since the Covid-19 pandemic globally struck in 2019 when the Malawi and Uganda teams departed their quarantine centers to check into their rightful rooms on Thursday mid-morning, the striking resemblance between the two could not be denied.<\/p>\n

Quick rewind; when Mahatlane looked for a new challenge after taking the South Africa U-19s to three World Cups last year, it was well-travelled Menon who actually persuaded him to apply for the Ugandan job.<\/p>\n

Job at hand<\/b><\/p>\n

But today, that friendship will be put aside as the two tacticians look to respectfully fly the flags of their second homes in a cut-throat ICC event where only the winner will qualify to the Africa Final scheduled for November 15-21 in Rwanda, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue, Menon is my guy but we will share more of the laughs after the game. We have ambitions as Uganda and we know where we want to go,\u201d said the 45-year-old Mahatlane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we are in a good space. The boys have worked very hard in preparation for this event and we\u2019re looking to master the small things and take it one game at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Menon, he is hopeful his young guns can learn a thing or two from Uganda, who he thinks are a much better side since Mahatlane took over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am here as a coach because our head coach caught Covid-19 and couldn\u2019t travel. I was allowed the job in Malawi as Operations Officer because for the last six years, cricket has moved to the townships.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwelve of these guys are from Blantyre. We have a young population and cricket will certainly grow. But against Uganda, we will look to pick as many positives as and who knows we can, maybe, spring a surprise also.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 59th, Malawi is the closest ranked nation to Uganda (29) according to the latest cricinfo.com Twenty20I world rankings and although it might look like a gulf in class, ICC events have continued to continuously offer some respite for the underdogs.<\/p>\n

GROUP A TEAMS<\/b><\/p>\n

Uganda (29), Ghana (65), Rwanda (77), Lesotho (86), Malawi (59), Eswatini (84) and Seychelles (N\/A)<\/p>\n

*In brackets ICC teams rankings<\/b><\/p>\n

NB: One Spot To The Africa Finals Set For November 15-21<\/b><\/p>\n

ICC Men’s T20 Sub Regional World Cup Qualifier<\/p>\n

TODAY\u2019S FIXTURES \u2013 IPRC, Kicukiro<\/b><\/p>\n

10.30am: Lesotho vs. Eswatini<\/p>\n

2.50pm: Uganda vs. Malawi<\/p>\n

Gahanga International Stadium<\/p>\n

10.30am: Ghana vs. Rwanda<\/p>\n

2.50pm: Seychelles vs. Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men\u2019s Twenty20 Sub-Regional World Cup Qualifier in the Rwandan capital Kigali. When Uganda lock horns with Malawi in the two nations\u2019 opening match at the Integrated Polytechnic Regional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-19553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nUganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\"},\"wordCount\":553,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\",\"name\":\"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier - Uganda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\",\"name\":\"Uganda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier - Uganda","description":"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier","og_description":"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","og_site_name":"Uganda","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":480,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier","datePublished":"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier"},"wordCount":553,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Uganda","uganda"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier","name":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier - Uganda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg","datePublished":"2021-10-15T17:10:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Sports the world over is made of many fairytale stories and the scenario is not any different here at the International ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6169a60488dde.jpg","width":720,"height":480,"caption":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/uganda-start-as-favourites-in-world-cup-qualifier#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uganda start as favourites in World Cup Qualifier"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/","name":"Uganda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}