ISF Gymnasiade Games 2022:
Boys:
- Gold: Romania
- Silver: Chinese Taipei
- Bronze: France
- 11th: Uganda
Girls:
- Gold: Romania
- Silver: Chinese Taipei
- Bronze: France
- 12th: Uganda
The 19th ISF Gymnasiade Games officially climaxed on Saturday, 21st May 2022 in Normandy, France.
Uganda smiled home with seven medals (all from athletics sport).
Athletics was one of the five sporting disciplines that Uganda fielded athletes with the others being Table Tennis, Swimming, Badminton and Basketball (3×3).
In Table Tennis, it was not the best of performances for team Uganda from the state of art Complexe Sportif Max Louvel centre, Ville de Montivilliers.
Uganda finished 11th of the 14 countries in the boys’ category and 12th out of 13 countries for the girls.
The boys’ team comprised of Phillip Martin Napokooli, Tendo Kasoma and the towering Dennis Wasswa Kikomeko.
Shanita Namaala, Halima Astolo and Flavia Amaniyo made up the girls’ team.
Both teams were handed by head coach Robert Ssekitoleko.
Right from the group stages, it was eminent that Uganda was destined for a steep but courageous mission from the fast players.
There are plenty of positives to report home about given the exposure that these players got.
Team Uganda also managed team victories against Argentina (boys) and Jordan (girls) with a couple of individuals impressive as well.
Kibuli S.S’ Napokooli boldly confirms he leaves France an improved player than he arrived.
“Surely, the ISF tournament has opened my eyes to become a better player. I need to better my training and improve many demanding aspects of my game” Napokooli states.
Namaala who recorded some wins over Bulgaria, Brazil and Jordan was by far the best female player.
She acknowledges a lot more work and effort needs to be undertaken as they climb the ladder to become better Table Tennis players.
“I am happy for some individual and team wins we registered. This is a starting point to performing well. We need to work extremely hard and dedicate more time on the Tables in training to become better players” Namaala reasoned.
Head coach Ssekitoleko was also left a perplexed personality given the varying range of form and expertise between Uganda’s players and many other players.
“Learning never stops. As a country, we have picked important lessons. There was a very big difference between our players and those who beat us. We need more training sessions to polish up the grey areas of our games” Ssekitoleko revealed.
Uganda participated in the individual and team doubles’ events.
Uganda’s delegation returns home on Monday, 23rd May 2022.
