Overview Uganda boys basketball team had a smooth start of the championship before things falling apart. They played 7 games winning four, losing 3. Here is Uganda’s detailed journey at the ISF World Schools Basketball Championship 2024.
The Championship The ISF World Schools Basketball Championship is a tournament organized by the International Schools Sports Federation, the schools’ sports governing body in the World. Teams from the member countries of the Federation are eligible to participate in this championship.
Host ISF World Schools Basketball Championship 2024 was hosted by Macao, China. Macao is located on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, situated approximately 64 kilometers (40 miles) west of Hong Kong and 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province with about 65,000 population. Accommodation The University of Macau accommodated all the countries that participated.
Some of the buildings in Macao City.
The University Of Macau is located on the Hengqin Campus and covers bout 1.09 square kilometers. It was founded in 1981 as the University of East Asia and renamed in 1991, is the only public university in Macao.
Macao University , East Wing.
Facilities The University itself had over 20 basketball courts within the campus which shows how prepared and fit it was to host these games. The University Of Macau Sports Pavilion had three main courts named UM 1 to 3 that entertained the girls games.
One Of Macao’s Basketball Arena.
MongHa Basketball Courts which were slightly far from the university gave platform to the boys highly contested games.
Key Part: Uganda’s Journey And How The Teams Faired. In the realm of basketball, where dreams are woven and hopes are high, the Ugandan teams embarked on a journey to China, with hearts full of fire and spirits that touched the sky. Their path was initially smooth, like a gentle breeze on a summer’s day, but soon became a tumultuous tale of triumph and dismay. With every step forward, they faced obstacles that tested their might, yet they persevered, their determination shining like a beacon in the night. Alas, their journey ended in a last-minute heartbreak, a cruel twist of fate that left them in dismay.
Explaining Uganda’s performance could be a simple task but digging deep into the boys run is emotional.
Uganda was represented by two teams, the girls basketball team that won the FIBA U-18 Zone V qualifiers that were held in Uganda at the Lugogo Indoor Arena and Elite High School Entebbe in the boys category.
The Two Teams Pose For A Photo Before Flying Out.
The teams were flagged off on 22-6-2024 by the National Council Of Sports Chairperson Ambrose Tashobya. Both teams embarked on a journey to China the same night aboard the Ethiopian Airlines.
Uganda’s Opponents Boys Group D Brazil Chile 2 Serbia Uganda Mongolia
Girls Group C China 2 Chinese Taipei Uganda France
The girls team reported on court on 25th suffering their first defeat to Chinese Taipei 69-43 before losing to China ii 61-41 in their next game.
The girls continued with a poor run losing to France in their last group level fixture 26-51 burying their knockout stage hopes.
Uganda had to play classification games where India and Cyprus were the next opponents.
Uganda beat India 88-16 dominating all the four quarters. The only African queens climaxed the championship walloping helpless Cyprus 94-19.
Uganda Girls Basketball Team Pose For A Photo Before One Of Their Games.
The boys On 24th, the boys team threw off it’s journey that was full of expectations with a close win over Brazil, winning 45-41 after overtime in a highly contested game.
Chile 2 was the next culprit falling to the motivated Uganda 78-31 with Mandiria Mangak puting on another exciting performance leading Uganda to the second win.
Uganda Boys Basketball Team Attentively Listening To Instructions.
Things Fall Apart Calamity fell to Uganda as Mongolia strived in the last quarter to end the team’s winning streak defeating them with a two point difference as the final score read 51-50 in favour of Mongolia.
Unbeaten Serbia rubbed salt in the wound capitalizing on Uganda’s weakness in defense to win the game in the last 4 seconds of the game 60-58 to leave Uganda’s knock out stages in suspicion.
Every Championship With It’s Rules and Regulations: How Uganda Missed Out On Quarter Finals After Tying With Brazil and Mongolia.
After the group stages, Uganda, Brazil and Mongolia were tyed at 6 points with each playing 4 games winning 2 and losing 2.
What the ISF rules say
Teams will be separated by points accumulated.
If two or more teams are tyed, head to head will determine the winner.
If the above rules haven’t worked out , goal difference accumulated by the tying teams in their fixtures will be used……
Mathematics: Which rule put Uganda aside? Let’s look at them one by one in this group’s context. •Rule 1 (Points Difference) Uganda, Brazil and Mongolia had 6 points each
•Rule 2 (Head To Head) Uganda beat Brazil 45-41 Mongolia beat Uganda 51-50 Brazil beat Mongolia. Since all teams had an equal head to head, it was put a side and the next rule worked out.
•Rule 3 ( Point Difference in their fixtures) Uganda beat Brazil with a 4 points difference, Mongolia beat Uganda with a 1 point difference while Brazil beat Mongolia with a 16 points difference
In this context Brazil was a better side to take the second position with 12 points followed by Uganda with 3 points and Mongolia coming fourth with -15 points.
Uganda had to play classification games where they beat Czech Republic 80-44 later lost to China ii 66-43 before getting a walkover against Mongolia.
Outstanding Players All players gave their best in fighting for the badge but here we point out some instrumental players from the boys and girls team.
Girls Shifrah Kiranda The silent assassin may seem very humble and slow off court and on court but the mentality and accuracy defines this girl.
Shifrah Kiranda in action.
Despite the team going down several times, it didn’t deny Shifrah a chance to lift herself and register points in different games
Abigail Lucy Mpoza With her experience from different national and East African games, Abigail is one of the most accurate players in front of the net.
Abigail Lucy Mpoza In Action Against India.
Christine Namyalo Leading by example, Christine is good at scoring the three pointers and could always cut Uganda’s point difference whenever the team could go down.
Captain Christine Namyalo.
Adongpin Immaculate The story of immaculate could be one of the best for starting basketball players to hear, the Gulu born, formerly played for St Noa before crossing to Italy and her experience was pivotal in Uganda’s transition.
Italian Based Immaculate Adongpin.
Boys Mandiria Moses Marial Appreciating what God gave him, Mandiria uses his height very well to score many points on Court. Mandiria played a big role in Uganda’s first two wins against Brazil and Chile ii.
Galiwango Brighton With his pace and accuracy, Brighton reached some games where he was man marked defining how poisonous the boy was. His dribbling skills, speed and accuracy in shooting makes him a powerful weapon in the team.
Shane Birungi Driven by passion, Shane will make a good leader on and off the court. He is one of the few players who does his best on court but never goes down even the results doesn’t come their way instead he encourages team mates to keep their heads high and focus on their next games
Shane Favour Birungi in yellow.
Uganda, Africa’s sole representative end of championship performance. It should be noted that over 24 countries participated in this prestigious championship with Europe and Asia sharing the 99% representation and Uganda was the only team from Africa and Uganda’s referee Anita Wanyenze was the only African referee at the tournament
At the end of the championship on 3rd July Uganda boys team was ranked 11th and the girls 12th which is a big achievement for Uganda. China won the girls trophy while Greece won the boys title
Capacity Building and Cultural Night Team Uganda attended classes of the ISF education classes where the athletes were impacted with knowledge about dopping
The cultural and nations night preserved gave athletes and officials a golden opportunity to tour Macao City and the neighbouring places creating beautiful memories for them.
Later in the evening, the team headed for the official cultural night, an event to expose different cultures, make connections, respect and recognize different cultural beliefs and rituals.
Ugandan Referee Anita Wanyenze, the only African referee at the championship.
It has been a journey full of experience Officials and Players Admit.
“We are humbled by the opportunity to play at the ISF Basketball tournament in Macao, China. We faced tough opposition that has made us better players. Winning four of the seven matches was fair. We look forward to more exposure at such tournaments”
Mathew Kisakye, Team Captain Elite High School.
“We thank the government for always providing the support, I appreciate both teams for the fight and their level of discipline a lot has been learnt and I believe the coaches have acquired a lot which will help us improve technically, I am very sure next time when we represent the country we shall give the best.”
Jonathan Egau, Uganda girls basketball team head coach.
“We competed with the best on the globe and we were exposed what we need to do is getting back to work and make sure that we prepare the athletes well so that they can be able to compete at that level”
Egau Added
“We thank the government for always providing the support, I appreciate both teams for the fight and their level of discipline a lot has been learnt and I believe the coaches have acquired a lot which will help us improve technically, I am very sure next time when we represent the country we shall give the best.”
Christopher Opoka, Vice Chairperson Association Of Secondary Schools Head Teachers Of Uganda
“They gave their best effort, the boys winning five out of the seven matches played. The lessons are taken and we shall improve. As USSSA, it has been a great representation in international tournaments ranging from Volleyball in Serbia, Football and Basketball in China, Athletics in Kenya to CAF football in Zanzibar. We thank the Government of Uganda for the financial support, schools, parents, teachers, players and the media at large.
USSSA 1st Vice President Twahil Kitezala (Blue) shakes hands with the Team manager Francis Bithola Ocukune (Yellow) upon return.
Hajj Twahil Kitezala after welcoming the teams at Entebbe International Airport
What Next After competing in all concluded ISF competitions this year, Uganda is not yet done. Over 7 teams will represent the country in Bahrain and France at the ISF Gymnasiads come October 23rd to 31st this year.
