Uganda Tennis players eliminated from the FISU Games

Uganda's campaign in the tennis tournament at the FISU World University Games in Germany ended abruptly, with all four Ugandan representatives eliminated in the first round.

Trevor Solomon Kazibwe, Frank Tayebwa, Christiana Owomuhangi, and Patience Athieno faced stiff competition in the event held at the ETUF Tennisanlage in the Rhine-Ruhr region in Essen.

Athieno, the Uganda Open champion, was the first to compete but lost in straight sets 2-0 (6-0, 6-0) to Polina Iatcenko, who participated as an individual neutral athlete. Although Athieno matched her opponent with 16 first serves each, she only managed to win four points on her first serve, compared to Iatcenko's 15.

Patience Athieno in action at the ETUF Tennisanlage in Essen, July 17, 2025. The Ugandans lost 2-0. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

Additionally, Iatcenko's serves proved too strong for Athieno, who fell victim to five aces. In total, Iatcenko garnered 24 points while receiving, while Athieno only earned five, leading to an overall points won of 48-11 in favour of Iatcenko.

It wasn’t any different for Owomuhangi, who also fell in similar fashion to Indian Rathi Anjali, who dominated with 7 aces and gained more points (25-5) while receiving and won with a total of 49-11 points.

Ugandan boys Kazibwe and Tayebwa could not contain the powerful serves and returns of Azerbaijan’s Kanan Gasimov and South Africa’s Carl Kriegler Roothman, also falling in straight sets 2-0 each. Tayebwa served well, but his opponent gained more from his returns and won with a total points won of 61-32. On his part, Kazibwe managed to win two games in the second set, having fallen 6-0 in the first, but came up short in all the other statistics.

In the men’s doubles, Kazibwe/Tayebwa fought hard against Uzbekistan’s Amir Milushev/Maksim Shin but still lost 2-0 (6-1, 6-4), just like Athieno/Owomugisha, who fell to Finland’s Venla Elisa Ahti/Aino Maria Aleksandra (6-0, 6-0).

I’m excited to have been here to play such opponents, but it was tough because these were different opponents from the ones I have met before. There was a lot of pressure playing against such opponents, and we need to work hard. They had stronger returns and were better on the net than us, but we have learned from this, and we hope to work on our weaker areas going forward,” Owomuhangi noted.

“I think I had a fair game because I played the tournament’s seed three, who plays more regularly and has higher ranking points and experience than me. She is a semi-professional, so we also have to up our game by competing more regularly,” Athieno said.

Coach Stephen Acher said his players did their best against more experienced players. “I thought the boys could make the second round, but it was a hard game, but they fought well,”

Earlier, Eva Eun-kyung Sandersen (DEN) wrote her name into FISU Games history by claiming the first gold medal of Rhine-Ruhr 2025 in a drama-filled afternoon of taekwondo at Messe Essen on Thursday. The Dane arrived in Germany as a five-time world championships medalist in the poomsae category but said she had felt under pressure to add to her glittering medal collection in a tense final against Jung Haeun of the Republic of Korea, who took the silver.