Uganda International Badminton Tournament:
- 22nd – 25th February 2018
- At Lugogo Indoor Stadium, Kampala
Uganda’s top seeded male badminton player Edwin Ekiring has arrived at Entebbe International Airport from his Holland base on Monday ahead of the kick off of the 2018 Uganda International open tourney.
Ekiring set foot into the country at 2 pm in company of a Dutch player, Niels Veenstra aboard Emirates Airlines.
The two players are among the hundreds of players who will play at the World Badminton Federation (BWF) sanctioned event.
Ekiring, Uganda’s seed one, who lost to Mauritian Georges Julien Paul during 2017 finals in Kampala, hinted on his eagerness to win the championship for the first time in his blossom career;
I have been training well with the Luxembourg and Dutch national teams.
I have fully recovered from the shin injury that disturbed me last year.
I am set and focused to play well at this year’s championship before the home fans.
Only Christopher Musaazi is the only Ugandan to have won in the male catergory during the 1995 tournament.
The rest of the winners have been non-Ugandans.
Last year Julien Paul benefited in the final when Uganda’s top player Edwin Ekiring who plies his trade in the Netherlands got injured in the second game and could not continue.
Veenstra, on his first visit in Uganda anticipates a great tournament as well;
This is my first time in Uganda. I have tried well with my brother Edwin and i know, i will have a great tournament.
High profile players as India’s Harshit Aggarwal (ranked 216th in the world) and Chaliha Orijit will play in the men’s singles.
Kona Tarun and Sharma Saurabh tussle it out in the doubles.
Uganda’s Bridget Shamim Bangi who won the title last year win face stiff challenge from Africa’s top ranked player Kate Foo Kune (Mauritius) and Egypt’s Hosny Hadia among others.
Bangi and 1995 champion Helen Luziika are the only two female winners in the history of the tournament.
The event will attract players from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Algeria, Holland, Jordan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Germany, France, Turkey, Greece, Zambia and the Republic Republic of Maldives among others.
In 2008, this tournament have been sanctioned by Badminton World Federation as International Series rated event with total prize money US$5000.