The Uganda Secondary Schools Sports Associations (USSSA) Fresh Diary games action is back after a 2 year sleep caused by Covid 19.
And the post covid national championship, the USSSA Fresh Diary event gets underway tomorrow at different venues in the hosting City of Gulu, at the hosting St Joseph’s College Layibi and Sacred Heart Gulu.
The competing schools started arriving in Gulu as early as last week, but many of them thronged the northern Uganda City starting early Monday morning, with the Northern route from Kampala via Karuma, decorated with school buses carrying athletes.
The arriving schools are the qualified from the 19 zone of the country according to the USSSA mapping, for the championship that comes back after 2 years of no activity due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The competition has attracted boys and girls teams in basketball, hockey racket games (badminton, table tennis and tennis), Rugby and girls football.
“We are ready for the games and the hosting. This is not the first time we have hosted these games and we have too successfully hosted the FEASSSA games. Our hosting experience now speaks volumes and thank God who has enabled safe travels to our visitors. We hope this one will also be a successful event,” Said Sacred Heart Girls Gulu head teacher Sr Hellen Lamono.
The draws for the games were made on Saturday at USSSA offices in Old Kampala, and the teams have reached in Gulu with a protracted games program, that only the team officials will have a technical meeting on Monday evening well ahead of the start tomorrow morning.
These games’ biggest highlight will be the girls’ rugby being played for the first time in the games’ history, where 6 of the qualified teams will battle for the maiden accolade: – USSSA president Patrick Okanya called ‘a successful beginning’.
In table tennis, ISF U-18 games bound boys Phillip Napookoli of Kibuli, Tendo Kasoma of St Michael International and Denis Kikomeko of Mbogo College school will put aside their national team unity and dress their school colours to battle for the boys’ gold, just like in the girls category where top aces Flavia Amaniyo (St Michael), Shanita Namaala (Mbogo High) and Halima Astolo (Mbogo College) will.
In Girls football, record winners and national and FEASSSA games defending champion Kawempe Muslim will be a team to beat, as rivals St Noa, Taggy High, Olila Girls, Mukono High and Gadaffi Integrated are raring to lift the title.
Namilyango College has dominated the boys’ rugby 15s and with the absence of rivals St Mary’s College Kisubi, the record winners will have to negotiate their way against , Kings College Buddo, Makerere College, Entebbe Parents, St Peters Nalya, Entebbe Airforce SS, Oxford High, Kiira College Butiki, Sir Samuel Baker, Lango College, Dr Obote, Ntare School and Mbarara High.
About 150 schools will be competiting for different titles in the champiship that will climax on April 26 with the closing events.
Main Photo:Table Tennis ace Denis Kikomeko (3rd from right) with the rest of Mbogo College school athletes on arrival at Layibi (1)
St Mary’s college lugazi let’s go!!! Team