Uganda International Series 2023
Host city: Kampala 
Dates: Oct 5- 8
Venue: Lugogo Indoor Stadium

The 2023 Uganda International Series that took place from October 5-8 at Lugogo Indoor Stadium provided incredibly deserving winners as all participants staged their quest for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

In the men’s singles, Mexico’s Luis Ramon Garrido celebrated his gold medal after a closely contested affair with India’s Vishal Vasudevan in all three sets.

Uganda’s Augustus Owinyi, Amos Muyanja, Kenneth Confort Mwambu, Abdul Swaburuh Ssempiri, Abed Bukenya, Muzafaru Lubega, Akbar Oduka, and Brian Kasirye were all eliminated in round 2.

However, both Brian Kasirye and Muzafaru Lubega redeemed themselves with a fitting walkover in the men’s doubles that saw the pair become champions against Denmark’s Mathew Abela and Israel’s Maxim Grinblat. 

Uganda Badminton national team captain, Amos Muyanja described Uganda’s performance as an A performance.

“ To me, it was an A Performance. In the year 2023, this was the performance we could give our fans,” Muyanja said.

“Therefore, every player that participated deserves credit,” he added.

In a star-studded team in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles, Muyanja thinks he was a bit unfortunate not to win.

“I was unfortunate to play with an injury but I was happy with my performance because I was able to put up a good fight,”.

Amos Muyanja who lost in the Quarter finals in the men’s doubles acknowledged that he needs to take time off and recover from his injury.

“I need to break off from tournaments so that I recover fully and be ready for the All Africa Games next year,” Muyanja stressed.

Paris 2024 hopeful

Muyanja did not hold back on Uganda’s aspirations for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

“This was level 2 category tournament and also a pathway to the Paris 2024 Olympics,”.

“We wanted to collect as many points as possible,” he stated.

“As for Uganda, the discussion is still big and I do not think it is going anywhere. But if we can keep up with these kinds of performance then we got a bright future ahead of us,” the Ndejje University student concluded.

India dominated both the women’s singles and doubles. Meghana Reddy Mareddy secured gold for the women’s singles while Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda held off a brave challenge from Uganda’s double pair in Fadilah Shamika Mohamed Rafi and Tracy Naluwooza to take home the women’s doubles gold.

Algeria’s Koceila Mammeri and Tanina Violette Mammeri won the mixed doubles.