Approximately 48 hours after Uganda’s U20 girls endured heart-breaking news of being forced out of a major tournament, the women’s netball team—the She Cranes have not been spared either.
Uganda’s national team, who are coincidentally also the All Africa Games netball champions, have been forced to withdraw from the Six Nations Cup tournament in Singapore due to financial constraints.
The high-profile event is scheduled to start on Sunday.
However, the She Cranes, one of Africa’s top sides, will not be part of the party as the Uganda Netball Federation (UNF) failed to secure travel funds.
The team, according to the UNF General Secretary Annet Kisomose needed to raise sh102m in order to take part at the weeklong tournament.
“We received pledges from concerned parties but none has delivered yet. I don’t expect any miracles to happen right now. We are left with no other option but to tell the girls that it’s all over,” Kisomose explained.
Kisomose added: “We had even already secured visas for the 14 players but we have no other option rather than cancelling the flight arrangements.”
On the contrary, UNF publicity secretary Wilberforce Mutete still sounded optimistic.
“We are still waiting for the final pledge from the President’s Office,” he said.
Uganda was supposed to play USA in the opening match on Sunday and later take on the Republic of Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka and host Singapore at the Toa Payoh Sports Hall.
She Cranes absence also means that Uganda will consequently miss the golden opportunity of being entered on the international ranking list.
Uganda was invited on the back of her tremendous performance at the Africa Netball Challenge Championship held in Malawi early this year.
By David Namunyala,The New Vision
