Uganda Men’s Sevens captain Michael Wokorach has said that the training camp in Kapchorwa is a good start for the team to the year after a long time without rugby activity.
“It is a good start for us because it is going to help us to gel together as a team, and bring us back together into rugby,” Wokorach said while speaking in a televised phone interview with Urban TV.
A 15-man contingent travelled to the Eastern district of Kapchorwa on January 3, 2021, for a seven-day training camp.
Byron Oketayot is back after recovering from a long term knee injury while Philip Wokorach did not travel with the squad.
Wokorach has noted the team has an uphill task to get fit and ready for competitions. There has not been any rugby activity in Uganda for 9 months, and the local program is yet to resume.
“It is a huge gap to cover. So we have a very short time to get us back where we ended in February when we had just come back from South America,” Wokorach said.
The year is going to be busy for the set up with a host of tournaments lined up. The tournaments include the Tokyo Olympic Games Repechage in June, Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifiers and Commonwealth Games qualifiers in November. These are in addition to the yet-to-be-confirmed Rugby Africa Sevens Cup, HSBC World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series, and other international invitational tournaments.
Wokorach said that the most important is the Olympic Games Repechage which is their path to the Tokyo Olympic Games.
It is going to be a tough one because there are so many other teams that are fighting for that one slot to qualify for the Olympics.
Michael Wokorach
The training camp will end on January 10, 2021 a few days before Uganda goes to the ballot during the general elections.