Banura beacon of hope for Uganda in FEASSSA

Mar 02, 2016

In athletics, the Kenyans have not only dominated the podium, but also made it difficult for other competitors to come close to the top positions.

For the many years of the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Associations (FEASSSA) games now, Team Uganda has always found it difficult to beat the Kenyan opposition in some sports disciplines.

The 15-year-old games, which bring together youthful athletes from the seven East African Community member states of Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zanzibar and South Sudan, have seen Kenya take a lion's share, having won 10 of the 15 editions.

In athletics, the Kenyans have not only dominated the podium, but also made it difficult for other competitors to come close to the top positions.

Uganda only broke the jinx in the 2014 Tanzania edition, where she came atop, grabbing their first overall winners' accolade after years of waiting.

In last year's edition in Huye Rwanda, Kenya came back strongly, committing their perennial rivals Uganda to second position again.

anura is gandas hope at the enya games come ugust  Butambala's Maureen Banura wins gold in the 200m ahead of Nabirye Nasiba in the national ball games in Gulu

 
However, Uganda beat Kenya in the girls' athletics category, after collecting 9 gold, 4 silver and 9 bronze, compared to Kenya's 6, 10 and 3 gold, silver and bronze respectively.

The girls' superb performance was ignited by sprinter Maurine Banura's heroics in the 4x100m (59.50 seconds) and 4x400m (03:54:7 minutes) relays, where Ugandan girls overpowered the Kenyans by far.

"I hope we can even better that time, because we want to keep working hard in training such that we get to peak form before the games. We want to keep on top in both the girls' and overall performance," Banura said.

The pint-sized Gombe SS Senir Six student, teaming up with Agnes Apio (Kitgum Alliance), Mary Onapa (Kitgum Alliance) and Nabirye Nasiba
(Mukono High) will be a force to reckon with as Team Uganda gears to maintain their hold on Kenya, come the August games in Eldoret, Kenya.

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