NEWS : Zambians Arrive for Badminton

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Zambians Arrive for Badminton

The Monitor (Kampala)

September 17, 2004
Posted to the web September 17, 2004

Douglas D. Bugingo
Lugogo

Zambian players are expected in the country today to grace the first edition of the Roofings Badminton Open Championships.

The tournament whichstarts today at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium will attract highly ranked African players. The Inspector General of Government Major General Katumba Wamala is expected to be the guest of honor at the opening function that starts at 9:00a.

Mr. Simon Mugabi, national coach and tournament co-ordinator said that 26 players from Kenya and Burundi will also take part in the event.

"Highly ranked players in Africa like Zambia's Elly Mwamba and Kenya's Dan Opondo showed great interest in taking part and are expected today," said Mugabi.



Mwamba, who is Zambia's top seedis ranked among Africa's top ten badminton players, while Kenya's second seed Opondo is also ranked in Africa.

Uganda boosts of stars Edwin Ekiring and Abraham Wogute,while in the ladies category, Rita Namusisi who lost to Kenya's Irene Kerimah in the just ended Manji Open is also eyeing top honors. Winners are expected to walk away with cash prizes of Shs150,000 for the men and Shs100,000 for ladies.

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See there is badminton activity in Africa though we unfortunately don't have many occasions to hear about the african players...

[kwun]

that's very cool. i can imagine myself walking into a badminton gym in the middle of Zambia and just play and chat with badminton players like we do in our local outfits.

the universal language of : badminton!

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Zambians Shine At Uganda Badminton Tourney

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)

September 25, 2004
Posted to the web September 27, 2004

ZAMBIA has emerged overall winner of the Uganda Open badminton championships after taking the mixed doubles, women singles and doubles at Lugogo Indoor stadium in Kampala.

Women's top seed Jean Mabiza beat her arch rival Olga Siamupangila 11-8, 11-3, in an all Zambia final to capture the women's singles title.

To reach the finals of the tournament sponsored by Roofing Uganda, Mabiza crashed Uganda's top seed Rita Namusisi 11-2, 11-1 while Siamupangila got the better of Kenya number one, Ireen Kerima 11-5, 11-6.

Mabiza and Siamupangila put up a double act to silence a partisan crowd at Lugogo when they thumped a Uganda pair of Namusisi and Edith Wamalwa 15-11, 15-10 to win the women's doubles championship.

Mabiza, who seemed to have a field day in Kampala, also grabbed the mixed doubles title when she partnered Lucio Mambwe against Ugandan champions Abraham Wogute and Wamalwa.

The Zambian pair faltered in the first set 9-15 before wrapping up easily the last two sets 15-3, 15-1.

But luck was not with the Zambian mixed doubles pair of Siamupangila and Juma Muwowo as they tumbled in the semi-finals to the Ugandan pair of Wogute and Wamalwa via a 15-6, 15-4 scoreline.

In the men's singles, Mambwe's hopes of capturing the title were halted by a determined Edwin Ekirmg of Uganda who posted a convincing victory of 15-3, 15-2.

For a final berth, Mambwe had to burn all his energies and needed one hour 45 minutes to eject Wogute, the player who beat him in the Thomas Cup Africa qualifier in February.

In this match which was undoubtedly the game of the tournament, Mambwe managed to avenge the loss at the Thomas Cup by grinding out a 15-13, 13-15, 15-13 win.

While in Uganda, the Zambian women team, which was led by Zambia Badminton Association (ZBA) general secretary Godfrey Masuwa, got a morale booster from a prominent Kampala businessman Azizi Damani who donated $580 towards meeting their allowances.

Zambia's High Commissioner to Tanzania Joshua Simuyandi and TAZAMA Pipelines regional manager in Dar-es-Salaam hosted a dinner for the victorious Zambian squad on Wednesday night.

The tournament ran from September 17 -19.

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I thought I had to post the conclusion!