Let the games start

By Joseph Kabuleta in ManchesterUganda’s hope for medals at the 17th Commonwealth games that start in Manchester, England, today will be led as always by the boxers.A team of four pugilists in different weight divisions are better suited to fly Uganda’s flag than any of their compatriots entered in other disciplines.Coach Dick Katende has successfully averted an embarrassing situation by ensuring that his boxers shed excess weight ahead of the weigh-in today. “Our weight is fine, we are waiting to know the draw,” he told The New Vision after a private weigh-in yesterday. Uganda’s boxers to the Sydney 2000 Olympics went with similarly high expectations but all fell at the first hurdle. Katende said: “If we can go past the first round then anything is possible.” Light heavyweight Joseph Lubega has the word ‘speed’ cut around his tinted hair and if his team mates’ form is anywhere as flashy as their haircuts, then they should avoid a repeat of the Sydney collapse. The rest of the disciplines have much less to offer.Uganda’s previous successes in table tennis have all come in team events — a seventh place finish at the 1991 All-Africa games in Cairo and a bronze medal at the 1995 edition in Zimbabwe — yet for some reason they did not enter the team events.Paul Mutambuze has participated in virtually every international event since the 1987 All-Africa games in Nairobi but his best performance in individual events is an appearance in the second-round. Anything better than that, against a field littered with Malaysians and Englishmen, will be viewed as a monumental success.Weightlifting has been hit by the wrist injury to 105kg Rashid Lubega. It started as a sprain, then a nagging pain, but an X-ray yesterday revealed that the gangly weightlifter had a crack in his borne, almost certainly ruling him out of the games.However, it hasn’t all been gloom at the games village.The confirmed arrival of Dorcus Inzikuru and Pascal Owor will come as boost to the Ugandan team which was deprived of Alex Malinga and Boniface Kiprop. The two athletes could not be traced for final documentation.Inzikuru, a former junior gold medallist, will have her work cut out against a field that has two Kenyans and an experienced Nigerian. The 20-year-old has just joined the seniors but the fact that her personal best of 15:59:96 came this season makes her the most in-form Ugandan.Grace Birungi has come up against Mozambique’s Maria Mutola so many times, but every time is just as scary. The Ugandan 800m runner saw Mutola do 200 uninterrupted sit-ups as part of routine training and was stunned.“If I can get to the final then anything is possible,” Birungi said yesterday. Her chances of achieving that will depend on the draws which will not be known until tomorrow.Annet Kabasindi, national javelin champion for the past three years, is the only Ugandan in the field events but her preparation for the games was outright disastrous.The 23-year-old didn’t have a javelin after the one she once used got broken. “I just train by throwing stones,” she said. Her story, especially that part about throwing stones, has caused quite a stir here and interested the international press. Big networks, including the BBC, are trying to trace her for an interview.Kabasindi’s personal best of 51.51m is nearly 12m short of Eve Laverne of the Bahamas. Medals might be hard to come by, but Uganda’s representatives at the Commonwealth games are not tourists.