Uganda's bronze at Bunjako highlights need for sand training and more exposure

Uganda’s bronze medal at the recent concluded 2026 CAVB Zone V Beach Volleyball Championship at Bunjako Beach in Buwama, Mpigi District, showed the team’s ability to compete, but the results also explained the need for regular training, better endurance and more opportunities for players to gain experience.

Assistant coach Shamim Makongoro believes the team can perform better at the next tour if preparations begin early and players spend more time training on sand.

“Due to the insufficient training that we had, we were constrained. Initially, we had planned to field four teams in this tournament, but we were constrained financially. We hope to do better,” Makongoro said.

Uganda’s women’s pair of Claire Najjuuko and Purity Nalua Nekesa provided the biggest highlight, winning bronze.

The pair started strongly, winning all three of their opening matches against Burundi, South Sudan and Kenya to top Pool A. However, they lost to Kenya in the semi-finals before recovering to beat South Sudan in the bronze-medal match.

Makongoro said the semi-final showed how endurance can affect a team even when it has the skills to win.

Asked why Uganda lost after leading the second set by as many as 16 points, Makongoro pointed to the time the players spent training on sand.

“I can surely say it was endurance that killed us. We had the skill, but we lacked sand endurance. The Kenyan team was not necessarily the better side, but they beat us on sand endurance. They are training more on the sand, which we are not doing,” she said.

This is an important lesson for Uganda. Regular training on sand. More time on the surface could help them maintain concentration and finish matches strongly.

The men also struggled with endurance. Aziizi Busingye and Luc Florent Kimararungu reached the quarter-finals but lost 2-0 to Kenya, while John Baptist Ogire and Isaac Ogusul were eliminated in the group stage.

She promised better performances at the next stop.

Uganda can also learn from the number of pairs other countries brought to Bunjako. Kenya fielded seven pairs, four men’s and three women’s, while Burundi had four pairs, two in each category. Uganda also entered four pairs, while South Sudan, making its debut, fielded two.

Fielding more pairs does not automatically guarantee medals, but it gives a country more opportunities to develop players, test combinations and gain competition experience. Uganda could use future tours to widen its pool of players and build stronger competition for places on the national team.

Burundi offered another lesson by winning both the men’s and women’s gold medals in Entebbe. Its results showed the value of preparing competitive pairs across both categories.

The Entebbe Tour was the second stop on the four-leg CAVB Zone V Beach Tour, following the opening event in Bujumbura, where Burundi won gold, Kenya took silver and Uganda finished third. The tour will move to Mombasa before concluding in Dar es Salaam in December.

Uganda had hoped to improve on its 2025 performance in Burundi, where the women won bronze and the men reached the quarter-finals. At Bunjako, Najjuuko and Nekesa again secured bronze, while Margaret Namyalo and Eunice Amuron reached the women’s quarter-finals.

The championship attracted nine men’s pairs and eight women’s pairs from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and South Sudan.