Last year’s winner of the women’s title at the Uganda Badminton International Saili Rane will not defend her title but foreign stars have still dominated the seeding ahead of the 10th edition that starts on Thursday. Indian Trupti Murgunde is seeded in the top spot with Egyptian duo of Hadia Hosny and Doha Hany in two and three, with South African Elme De Villiers in the fourth position.
Shamim Bangi is the only local female player seeded in fifth position, Sri-Lankan Lekha Handunkuttihettige is sixth with Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan and Fatima Azeez (Both Nigerians) in seventh and eighth respectively. “The highly ranked players are always considered first,” Uganda Badminton Federation CEO Simon Mugabi said.
“And in Uganda our players are not ranked up there, you can count one or two. But it is not the players’ fault, as country we don’t play in many ranking tournaments that’s why,” he added.
Herbert Ebayo and Jacob Musisi are the other seeded players in the men’s doubles. Local top seed Edwin Ekiring wasn’t seeded after his ranking on the continent dropped from the number one spot to 15th.
Ekiring and others will battle Dinuka Karunaratne from Sri-Lanka for the men’s honor. Australia, Malaysia, India, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Israel, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius and Tanzania will join hosts Uganda.
Top eight female players at the 2014 Ugandan International
1-Trupti Murgunde – India
2-Hadia Hosny – Egypt
3-Doha Hany – Egypt
4-Elme De Villiers – South Africa
5-Shamim Bangi Uganda
6-Lekha Handunkuttihettige – Sri-Lanka
7-Dorcas Ajoke Adesokan – Nigeria
8-Fatima Azeez – Nigeria