2011 has had many fond moments among many sports lovers. October, 8th will remain a ‘black’ Saturday in the eyes of the football fraternity after the Uganda Cranes failed to make it to the AFCON 2012 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The Cranes came second in group J after the Palancas Negras. They had 5 cleansheets and scored 6 and conceded only 2 in Luanda. Elsewhere, Supersport made its way into Ugandan club football and the Ugandan league is one of the televised African leagues despite egos between Fufa and USL.
Uganda failed to collect a medal in the World Athletics championships in Daegu but secured atleast 4 gold in Maputo at the All Africa games courtesy of Annet Negesa(800m), Moses Ndiema Kipsiro (5000m), the ladies netball team and Christine Aikoru ( paraolympics).
Ugandan cricket also shared a toast of success when they hosted and won both the men and ladies T20 Africa tournaments. The men under Davis Karashani had a 6 wicket win over Namibia whereas the ladies captained by Barbara Mukankusi also pulled off a splendid 9 wicket win over Nigeria.
‘Superlady’ Suzan Muwonge against all odds won the National Rally Championship (NRC) becoming the first lady to do so after accumulating 465 points. Only Ponsiano Lwakataka, the 2005 and 2007 NRC champion came second on 340 points.
Kickboxing was put beyond its normal boundaries when motor-mouthed Golola Moses beat up South Sudanese, Abdul Quadir to win an African title and all was in controversy when it came to the World Kickboxing Federation intercontinental fight with Andras Nagy.
DMark Power won the men’s MTN FUBA basketball league with a 4-3 serie match win over Kyambogo Warriors.
Nkumba university cruised to victory in both men and ladies volleyball leagues.
Many new sporting figures have come onto the scene like Justin Kimono on the national rugby side and Phillip Wokorach in schools’ rugby. Despite this, Uganda still lost the Elgon cup for the fifth time running to rivals Kenya. We also lost to Zimbabwe 25-15 and got victory over Madagascar, 50-30 in the CAR 1B tourney in Kampala in June this year. Indeed, a great sporting year, we hope for a much more pleasing 2012.