Mbale produces table tennis queens
May 25, 2006
WHEN Aisha Nambozo, 14 and 15-year-old Amina Kibone started playing table tennis a few years back, they thought the best they could do is bring local pride to their primary schools.
By William Muwonge
and Joseph Wanzusi
WHEN Aisha Nambozo, 14 and 15-year-old Amina Kibone started playing table tennis a few years back, they thought the best they could do is bring local pride to their primary schools.
Three years on, the two teenagers have flown to Melbourne, Australia to represent the country, have been hosted to a state dinner by president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and are instantly recognised by everyone in Mbale.
“People I have never met before normally stop me and say, ‘welcome back from the games’,†Nambozo proudly says.
The products of Mbale Tigers Club, Nambozo and Kibone were the first beneficiaries of a policy by the table tennis association to groom for the future.
They turned out to be two of the youngest athletes at the Commonwealth Games where their inexperience meant they failed to go beyond the first round of contests in the singles and doubles
Nambozo, a senior two student of Mbale SSS and Kibone in senior one at Nabumali High, were part of the first batch recruits in 2003.
The club was started with initial funding of sh32m by a Swedish researcher and table tennis enthusiast Stephane Loupe.
Loupe later recommended the club to the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) that provided sh32m in 2005. This year, the figure has gone up to sh51m.
Club director Emmanuel Matysetyse, a former player and Uganda Table Tennis Association (UTTA) secretary, said their mission is to tap talent. “Besides training the youngsters, those who excel in competitions get financial boost for education,†Matysetyse said.
The club now has 59 children from the age of 5 to 18 years, a majority of whom are students.
“The kids just love being around us. Some merely hold bats but we have to inspire them to play,†Kibone explained.
Club secretary Lydia Nasaka explained that non students take lessons in the morning and their school-going colleagues in the evening.
and Joseph Wanzusi
WHEN Aisha Nambozo, 14 and 15-year-old Amina Kibone started playing table tennis a few years back, they thought the best they could do is bring local pride to their primary schools.
Three years on, the two teenagers have flown to Melbourne, Australia to represent the country, have been hosted to a state dinner by president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and are instantly recognised by everyone in Mbale.
“People I have never met before normally stop me and say, ‘welcome back from the games’,†Nambozo proudly says.
The products of Mbale Tigers Club, Nambozo and Kibone were the first beneficiaries of a policy by the table tennis association to groom for the future.
They turned out to be two of the youngest athletes at the Commonwealth Games where their inexperience meant they failed to go beyond the first round of contests in the singles and doubles
Nambozo, a senior two student of Mbale SSS and Kibone in senior one at Nabumali High, were part of the first batch recruits in 2003.
The club was started with initial funding of sh32m by a Swedish researcher and table tennis enthusiast Stephane Loupe.
Loupe later recommended the club to the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) that provided sh32m in 2005. This year, the figure has gone up to sh51m.
Club director Emmanuel Matysetyse, a former player and Uganda Table Tennis Association (UTTA) secretary, said their mission is to tap talent. “Besides training the youngsters, those who excel in competitions get financial boost for education,†Matysetyse said.
The club now has 59 children from the age of 5 to 18 years, a majority of whom are students.
“The kids just love being around us. Some merely hold bats but we have to inspire them to play,†Kibone explained.
Club secretary Lydia Nasaka explained that non students take lessons in the morning and their school-going colleagues in the evening.