Tennis coach to players: Train routinely at home

CORONAVIRUS & SPORTS

KAMPALA - Tennis head coach Edward Odocken has asked his players to adopt daily home trainings.

Due to the suspension of all local sports due to the coronavirus pandemic, players cannot access courts and remain confined at their respective homes.

"We are trying to organize tennis drills and send to our players via our social media platforms so that they can keep fit as they work from home as per the directives by President Yoweri Museveni and the health ministry," said Odocken.

"A sports person has to be active, so when you are locked up indoors, it means this will affect you.

"We send our players clips to guide them, such as dumbbell or resistance band exercises, jumping jacks, burpees, skipping rope, pushups, crunches, pull-ups or line-to-line runs drills on the court," added the coach.

The men's and women's teams were due to take part in the Davis Cup Africa Zone and Fed Cup in Congo Brazzaville and Lithuania, respectively. Ugandan tennis players will have to put their dreams on pause after the two events were suspended by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) due to the coronavirus crisis.

The likes of Sandra Nhissa, Mariam Etiang and Judith Nalukwago had gone through trials for the Fed Cup.

Four out of 10 players were supposed to be picked to represent Uganda at the Europe/Africa III event of the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas in Vilnius, Lithuania.

The other female players are Jovia Nakayenga, Evelyn Ochom, Evelyn Chimolo, Melonie Nahirya, Maggie Namaganda, Winnie Birungi and Patience Athieno.

As many as 27 European and African teams are to take part in this Fed Cup regional competition that was supposed to start in June.

The other 26 teams are: Algeria, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Herzegovina, Botswana, Congo, Cyprus, Gabon, Ghana, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Lithuania, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Norway, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, one the men's side, David Oringa, Simon Ayella, Borris Aguma and Frank Tayebwa had already qualified for the Davis Cup by the time of the suspension.


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