Twelve junior national team players have been flagged off to Burundi to represent Uganda at this year’s U14 and U16 East African Tennis Junior individual and team championships.

 The team of girls that will compete in U14 and U16 include, Hilder Afoyorwoth, Claire Nalubuula, Olivia Natukunda, Maggie Namaganda, Abigail Nabasirye, Edna Nabiryo.

Cillian Ndilima, Latif Ssendyowa, Jona Ssentongo, Nasser Ochom, Francis Agonzebwa, Troy Zziwa will compete in the boy’s category.

John Oduke who coaches the boy said he is confident that the teams will represent the country well given the fact that all players have grown within the system.

“We have been with both teams from the grassroots so we know what they are capable of doing and we also got both mental and body conditioning coaches who joined the team as we strive towards building complete athletes.”

“The team also had some talks with Lawrence Mahatlane the Cricket Cranes coach and Phillip Wokorach (national 7s and 15s rugby player),” said Oduke.

Danny Kyazze the Uganda Tennis Association (UTA) vice president thanked the National Council of Sports (NCS) for providing athletes with free training facilities for a period of one month, training that enhanced a high-performance program that allowed junior players to remain match-ready.

NCS administrator Sarah Chelangat said as the sports governing body, they are privileged to have the team ready to go out and show what Uganda can do.

“I want to thank our players for their hard work. I visited them a few days ago when they were training and they were confident that they were going to represent the country excellently. We wish you success as you go out to lift the Ugandan flag high,” said Chelangat.

The flag-off ceremony was held at the Uganda Olympic Committee offices on Wednesday morning.