Uganda’s Table Tennis campaign at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games ended with a victory, valuable international exposure and encouraging signs of potential, as Jemimah Nakawala and Joseph Sebatindira tested themselves against some of the competition’s emerging talents at the Dakar Expo Center.
While the results reflected the challenge of competing against more experienced opponents, Uganda’s young paddlers left Dakar with important lessons, particularly in their ability to compete, recover from setbacks and push their opponents into difficult exchanges.
The campaign’s brightest moment came through 16-year-old Nakawala, who registered Uganda’s first victory in the women’s singles with an emphatic 3-0 win over Ghana’s Joanita Borteye, taking the games 11-6, 11-8 and 11-6.
It was a performance that demonstrated her ability to take control of a match and maintain consistency across three games, giving Uganda a memorable moment on the Olympic stage.
Nakawala, however, faced a tougher examination against Poland’s Katarzyna Rajkowska, managing to take one game before falling 3-1. She subsequently lost 3-0 to India’s SyndrelaDas, who secured an 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 victory in their Group 8 encounter on November 2.
For Nakawala, who travelled to Dakar immediately after completing her Senior Four examinations, the experience was as much about personal development as it was about results.
“The big lesson is not giving up,” she said, reflecting on a campaign that demanded resilience and the ability to remain competitive against opponents with greater international experience.
On the men’s side, 11-year-old Joseph Sebatindira offered an encouraging glimpse into Uganda’s future, competing against older and more experienced players despite being among the youngest athletes at the Games.
Sebatindira may not have registered a victory, but his performances demonstrated a commendable fighting spirit, as he managed to win at least one game in each of his three singles encounters.
He opened with a 3-1 defeat against Poland’s Patryk Zyworonek before suffering an identical scoreline against Venezuela’s Jonathan Vegas.
His final Group 8 encounter against Romania’s Robert Istrate provided perhaps the clearest illustration of his competitive potential.
Although Istrate eventually secured a 3-1 victory, Sebatindira made the Romanian work for it, particularly in the closing stages. After taking the opening game 11-9, the Ugandan lost the second 11-7 before pushing his opponent into two closely contested games, which ended 14-12 and 12-10.
Sebatindira’s narrow margins in his games demonstrated that despite his age, he could challenge opponents on the international stage.
Uganda’s participation also extended into the mixed doubles, where the pairing of Nakawala and Sebatindira faced Tunisia’s Youssef Aidli and Ela Saidi. The Ugandan duo lost 3-0, although they showed resistance in the second game, taking the contest beyond the 10-point mark.
For coach Alvin Katumba, the competition provided a valuable assessment of where the young players stand against some of the world’s promising table tennis prospects.
Katumba acknowledged that his players faced opponents with greater experience but emphasised that they were not overwhelmed by the occasion, an encouraging indication of their readiness to compete at a higher level.
Beyond the solitary singles victory, Uganda’s campaign offered a broader measure of progress. Nakawala demonstrated her capacity to win on the Olympic stage, while Sebatindira’s ability to take games off every opponent provided a promising foundation for his development.
The experience also exposed areas requiring improvement, particularly consistency, match management and the ability to close out tightly contested games against more seasoned opponents.
Ultimately, Uganda’s table tennis story in Dakar was not defined solely by the results column. It was a campaign of exposure, resilience and learning, with two young athletes discovering what it takes to compete at the highest level of youth sport.