The Uganda Handball Association has named 24 players to represent the country at the International Handball Federation U-20 continental zonal championships.
The four day tournament will run from 4 to 8 August in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Ugandan players, who qualified after beating Kenya in August last year will be under the guidance of coaches Jimmy Remie Oroti and Michael Ssempira.
The team has three goal keepers: Mustapha Kilaga, Ivan Kisa and Musa Okiria with the other 21 outfield players, all of who are currently training at the Police Training School grounds in Kibuli.
Participants at the intercontinental tournament are the winners of the different African zones where Uganda won the Zone B IHF Challenge trophy that was hosted at the Uganda Christian University, Mukono in August 2014.
During the qualification games at UCU the Ugandan girls were beaten in the finals by Kenya and failed to make it for this tournament.
The seven zone winners in both men’s and women’s competition will face off each other in order to secure a position and participate in the Intercontinental Tournament slated for October this year.
The tournament for both Competitions will first play a preliminary round where teams will be divided in two groups (one group of four and one group of three). The best two teams will precede to the semi-finals and the medal matches while the rest of the teams will play in the placement round.
In the women’s Competition last cycles’ winner; Congo did not qualified making it quite an exciting tournament since it will provide a new champion. National teams of Senegal, Kenya and Burkina Faso compose the group A, while the host Ethiopia is paired alongside Madagascar, Chad and Mozambique in Group B.
Given the groups, it would be very difficult to determine a favorite as all teams go in the competition with equal chances.
The men’s competition carries last cycle’s winner Nigeria over to the Continental stage, and as title defenders they enter the tournament as favorites.
Nigeria is drawn in Group B together with Mozambique and Cape Verde, while Group A is made of Ethiopia (host), Uganda, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The winners in Addis Ababa will join Bulgaria, New Zealand, Martinique and Uzbekistan, who have already qualified in the women’s competition, while the men join the Faroe Islands, Tahiti, Colombia and Uzbekistan in the competition for the InterContinental Phase of the IHF Trophy.
The boys line up
NAMES POSITION
Dan Aboku wing
Gerald Angutuko centre
Kevin Afayo wing
Dominic Akena half
Atandu Jonathan wing
Badru Waswa wing
Mark Emasu half
Kangala Imron centre
Kilaga Mustapha Goal keeper
Kiisa Ivan Goalkeeper
