Commonwealth Games 2022 (Squash):
- Michael Raymond Kawooya (Uganda) 3-0 Marcus Allen Adela (Seychelles) – [11-8, 11-2, 11-3]
- Paul Kasirye Kadoma (Uganda) 2-3 Jason Ray Khalil (Guyana) – [14-12, 9-11, 11-9, 4-11, 9-11]
It was a day of mixed fortunes for Uganda’s Squash players on the first day of day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games at the Birmingham University sports center, England.
Team captain Michael Raymond Kawooya won his opener against Seychelles’ Marcus Allen Adela 3-0 whilst Paul Kasirye Kadoma narrowly slipped to Guyana’s Jason Ray Khalil 3-2.
Kawooya was in scintillating form with a 3-0 victory, winning all the three sets; 11-8, 11-2 and 11-3.
“I am happy for the brilliant start. It gives me confidence ahead of the rest of the matches that I have to play” Kawooya noted.
Kasirye lost 2-3 to Guyana’s Khalil despite having taken the early lead 14-12 in the opening set.
Khalil recovered to win the second set 9-11 before Kasirye made it 2-1 with a 11-9 third set victory
The Guyana player won the fourth set 11-4 to neutralize the game and force a decider that he also won 11-9.
On the evening of Saturday, July 30, 2022, Kawooya faces a stern test of character when he takes on the world ranked number seven player Joel Makin, from Wales in an all-glass court.
Uganda’s team is under head coach Ian Kajubu Rukunya.
Prior to the games proper, they hard warm up games against Kenya’s Muqutadir Nimji and Kundanji Kalengo from Zambia.
For starters, Kawooya is making the fourth appearance at the Commonwealth games after previous representation in New Dehli, India (2010), Glasgow, Scotland (2014) and Gold Coast, Australia (2018).
For Kasirye, this is third appearance as an active player following the games in Glasgow and Gold Coast.