National golf team members pose for a group photo after being unveiled at Kitante on January 16, 2019. PHOTO: Michael Nsubuga

Despite the inexperience of the new-look national golf team, the stakes remain high for them ahead of international competitions that wait.

A twenty-two man team was officially unveiled Wednesday to start preparing for the different events, following qualifiers in Entebbe and at the Uganda Golf Club in Kampala on Monday and Tuesday.

The team will participate in the All Africa Junior Championships in Botswana, the Victoria Cup, the Zone IV championships in Burundi and the All Africa Championships in Mauritius.

Uganda boys’ junior golf team that produced their best outing ever for the country, finishing third as the All-Africa Junior Golf Challenge in Morocco last year, have the biggest task of ensuring they go a step better, for a chance to participate in the 2019 Toyota Junior World Cup in Japan. They will be in action first in a similar championship in Botswana in March.

Two of the members who were on that team, Joel Basalaine and Denis Asaba are back on the team with David Kamulindwa and Edrine Okong having turned pro and gone for further studies in the US respectively.

But there is a new generation of youngsters led by Tooro’s Michael Alunga and Mehta Golf Club’s Ibrahim Aliga, Godfrey Nsubuga, Reagan Akena and Joseph Kanonera, who made it through the qualifiers, and will battle for the final four places to represent the country.

“We have great expectations from them; there is a lot to fight for, we want to go to Japan. We also want to put on a good show against Kenya in the Victoria Cup and in other African competitions,” UGU president Innocent Kihika said after the qualifiers on Tuesday.

The rest of the team members that was unveiled at Kitante today includes; Joseph Cwinyai, Daniel Baguma, Rodell Gaita, Emmanuel Jakisa, Ibrahim Aliga, Ashiraf Bagalana, Noah Waibi, Grace Kasango, Rogers Eyoyo and Hussein Alemiga.

The others are; James Koto, Emmanuel Moko, Ibra Bagalana, Bruhan Matovu, Reagan Akena, Innocent Okecha, Jonathan Musinguzi and Joseph Kanonera.

Twelve of the team members come from Tooro and Lugazi while Entebbe and Namulonge has two each with Jinja having one on the team.

“Congratulations for completing the 72 holes. You are all winners for having participated. I’m happy to see many new faces and it is good to see that talent is being spread everywhere and the number of juniors is an indication that the game is alive,” Kihika noted.

“You’re our ambassadors of your clubs and the UGU so your conduct is very important and with discipline you’ll vbe able to win tournaments,”

Team Manager Moses Matsiko lauded the youngsters for exhibiting discipline during the qualifiers while UGU secretary Paul Baite said all those who had participated in the qualifiers had earned points that will count in the ‘Order of Merit’ that is going to be implemented in all open events across the country, with each golfer earning performance based points that will count at the end of the year.