Uganda woke up on the wrong foot of day four as only one out of the eight women and six men qualified for the finals of the Chinese Open at the 6th Woodball World Cup in Sanya, China.
From onset, nothing favoured Team Uganda as local seed one Lillian Zawedde had to seek for medical attention when she woke up with malaria which kept her out of the mid-morning event.
Entebbe Woodball Club’s Flavia Navubya was the only Ugandan player who sailed through to the finals of the Chinese Open.
This was after a tight contest with Thailand’s Pornpimon Buaklang whom she beat by 49-51 strokes in 12 gates respectively. The rest of the team members fell to countries that included Thailand, China, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.
“Thailand has got experienced players who have played woodball for so many years but I had to put all that behind me to reach the finals, I thank the Lord,” explained a cheerful Navubya.
However on a more positive note, Uganda squeezed in two representatives in the mixed double finals of the stroke competition.
Ndejje University’s Onesmus Atamba and Ndejje Woodball Club’s Sophia Namuddu topped their group which included pairs from Thailand and Singapore with 54 strokes. Godfrey Bukenya of St. Joseph’s Technical Institute and Ndejje University’s Viola Operu hit 51 strokes in 12 fairways.
Today the stroke competition mixed doubles final and stroke singles final will be played.
By Thomas Muruka Ochola, The New Vision