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Ruggers want to break five-decade Olympics jinx
Uganda's Timothy Kisiga. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
The national men’s and women’s rugby sevens will attempt to break that longstanding jinx when they set foot for the World Rugby Sevens Repechage next weekend in Monaco, France.
The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany marked several firsts for Team Uganda. Notably, it was at these games that John Akii-Bua stunned the world with a record time of 47.82 seconds to win the 400-metre hurdles for Uganda’s first-ever gold.
Additionally, it was the first time Uganda fielded a team sport in the Olympics as 41-year-old Elly Kitamirike guided the national hockey team to the games. No other team has represented the country at the games for the past 52 years.
The national men’s and women’s rugby sevens will attempt to break that longstanding jinx when they set foot for the World Rugby Sevens Repechage next weekend in Monaco, France.
The tournament which takes place from June 21-23 at the Louis II Stadium in Monaco serves as the final qualification tournament for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The two delegations from Uganda were flagged off from Kampala by the assistant general secretary of the National Council of Sports David Katende on Friday and arrived at their base the next day.
Katende emphasized the importance of this chance while likening it to a soldier’s last bullet in war.
“Take this like a soldier at war remaining with only one bullet. That bullet is precious, take advantage of it,” Katende reminded the two teams.
The qualifier features twelve teams for each gender with the winners taking the only remaining spots left.
Uganda finished third behind Kenya and South Africa in the men’s and the women’s Africa Sevens last year to earn a place for this weekend’s games.
The Lady Cranes Sevens have been placed in Pool B alongside Hong Kong, Jamaica and Paraguay. The men’s team is also in Group B with Great Britain, Canada and China.
The winners will join the top four ranked nations from the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 and the six continental champions in the respective categories. Rugby at the Olympics will kick off on July 24.
Uganda men’s group fixtures
Friday (3.28 pm) – Canada vs Uganda
Saturday (12.52 pm) – Great Britain vs. Uganda
Saturday (5.28 pm) – Uganda vs. China
Uganda women’s group fixtures
Friday (2.12 pm) – Uganda vs. Jamaica
Saturday (11.12 pm) – Uganda vs. Paraguay
Saturday (6.20 pm) – Uganda vs. Hong Kong
Participating teams
Men’s teams: Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong China, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Spain, Tonga and Uganda.
Women’s teams: Argentina, China, Czech, Hong Kong China, Kenya, Jamaica, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Samoa and Uganda.
