Mwase tops 400m freestyle heat as Uganda's medal push continues

Uganda's Arthur Mwase continued to impress at this year's Youth Olympic Games after topping the men's 400m freestyle in heat 1.

Mwase posted 4:28:12 minutes, followed by Oman's Al Hassan Hamed, while Tanzania's Zack Okumu finished third. While he won the race, Mwase was short of his personal best of 4:20:33, which he posted during the aquatics swimming league meet.

Ssuubi Mary Peyton was another Ugandan who competed in the women's 100m breaststroke, finishing fifth in heat 2. Ssuubi posted a time of 1:20:12 minutes in a race that was won by Vietnam's Nguyen Thuy Hien.

Nakawala falters in table tennis

Uganda's chances of qualifying for the round of 16 in table tennis came to an end yesterday after Jemima lost her final group game 3-0 against India's Das Syndrella. The opening set was a close contest between the two young stars, but the Indian reigned supreme, winning it 11-9 before taking the final two sets 11-6 and 11-8 respectively.

Uganda faced the same fate in the men's singles, with Joseph Ssebatindira losing his third consecutive group game 3-1 against Romania's Robert Istrate. Ssebatindira shocked the third-ranked player with an 11-9 first-set win. However, the Romanian came back stronger, winning three straight sets (11-7, 14-12, 12-10) to take the encounter 3-1.

Nabukenya out in badminton

Uganda's only badminton representative at this year's Youth Olympic Games, Ramiah Nabukenya, suffered her second and third successive losses of the campaign after going down 2-0 to Great Britain's Parab Rajvi and Ukraine's Poperezhai Varvara respectively here at Dakar Arena.

Uganda finishes 8th in rugby sevens

After losing all their group matches, the rugby teens returned to fight for a decent finish at their debut Youth Olympic competition. Their first assignment was a 5th-6th position match against Germany. The Germans defeated Uganda 22-0, reducing it to a 7th-8th position match against hosts Senegal in their final game. Uganda led the game 5-0 in the first minutes with a Bwambale Bonami try before the hosts overturned the game in the second half to win it 10-5.

France went on to win gold after defeating South Africa 26-19 in the final, while Argentina settled for bronze. Despite the results, team captain Shafic Okole described the experience as a learning curve.

"We are happy to be here. We had never played rugby at this level before, but we have learned a lot. Our opponents were much stronger, more knowledgeable about the game and also the basics," said Okole.

Minister Ogwang, Ogwel visit Team Uganda

The arrival of Minister of Sports Peter Ogwang in Senegal boosted Team Uganda's morale ahead of the remaining competitions.

Ogwang arrived in Dakar together with National Council of Sports officials led by chairman Ambrose Tashobya and secretary general Patrick Ogwel. While speaking to journalists, Ogwang said he had come to benchmark the organisation of the Youth Olympic Games as Uganda also prepares to co-host AFCON Pamoja next year and the African Games in 2031.

"We want to compare how they handle things in terms of functional areas and also carry out improvements based on what we have discovered here," Ogwang said. Ogwang was also impressed with the level of talent identification and the development model in Senegal, which has seen the country export raw talent into professionalism in Europe.

"Senegal is one of the most successful nations on the continent in terms of talent exports, and we are going to have meetings with the minister in charge of sports in Senegal to share some knowledge."

Ugandans return to action today, with swimmers Peterson Inhensiko and Mbanga Zara competing in the 50m freestyle and 200m freestyle respectively.

Swimming 
Men’s 400m freestyle 
1. Arthur Mwase (UGA) 4:28:12

Badminton
Women’s singles Group 8
Parab Rajvi (GBR) 2-0 Ramiah Bukenya (UGA)
Ramiah Bukenya (UGA)0 -2 Poperezhai Varvara (UKR)

Table Tennis 
Men’s singles preliminary round 
Robert Istrade (ROU) 3-1 Joseph ssebatindira (UGA)
Women’s singles preliminary round 
Das Syndrela (IND) 3-0 Jemima Nakawala (UGA)

Rugby sevens 
Men’s placing 5th -6th place Match 
Germany 22-0 Uganda 
Men’s placing 7th - 8th place match 
Senegal 10-5 Uganda