By Julius Senyimba
Floor hockey semi-finals
Uganda 9 Italy 2
Finals
Uganda 2 Hong Kong 1
UGANDA'S hockey team bagged a gold medal in the World Special Olympics Winter Games in the Unified Hockey event in Seoul.
The side overcame Chinese Taipei 5-2 in the final game of the round robin event to accumulate 9 points that saw them reach the semi-finals.
Uganda managed to finish among the top four countries as well as going unbeaten in the competition that attracted 3,000 athletes with disabilities from over 110 countries.
They qualified for the final round, where they beat Hong Kong 2-1, after a costly semi-final game against Italy that left many of the players nursing injuries.
According to team captain Charles Okello, the team had all it needed to win but had to navigate past some barriers on their way to success.
“Am happy that I led a team that made Uganda proud, but it was not easy because we suffered a lot of injuries during the game against Italy” said Okello during their ceremonial party held in Makindye.
Africa was represented by only four countries including Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Canada was the overalll winner with 15 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze medal. California will host the next event in 2015.
