The Pool Cranes team returns today from the 2019 Africa Pool Championships in Secunda, S. Africa – where Uganda was represented in both Men and Ladies categories.
Uganda won gold in the Ladies Team Blackball event and came second in the Men’s Team Blackball event, beating all odds they faced with no funding at all from the government.
Victoria Namuyanja also came second in the Ladies Blackball singles event, and Chandiga Ceaser shocked the continent with magical skills to add his singles Bronze to the teams’ Silver in the Chinese 8ball events. Ladies Team Captain Amina Faith Nganda who came third on her inaugural tour thanked the team sponsors for making it happen, and attributed their overall success to thorough preparation and training ahead of the games.
Pool Association of Uganda is very grateful to Chris Rugari and his companies SPA Financial Services and Array Metals – for making it possible for the team of 22 people to travel to South Africa and participate. Chris Rugari also helped the Pool Cranes with team uniforms and upkeep to Zimbabwe for the 2017 edition of the Africa Pool Championships.
‘We owe full allegiance to Chris Rugari who singlehandedly trusted that we can deliver, and we are glad we did not disappoint” said Robert Kayanja, PAU Tournament Secretary. “We appeal to government to recognize these efforts by celebrating our achievements. We always excel but are never celebrated, like when Uganda won the 2016 African titles in both Ladies and Men team categories but were ignored. Lack of government support is very disappointing to these very committed athletes, especially given that PAU consistently lobbied for more than 12 months ahead of this event” Kayanja added.
Uganda got more honours when Hans Rugari was coopted as Marketing Executive for AAPA, the continental pool body to which Uganda affiliates. As Patron of the Pool Cranes, Hans promised to secure event funding to the Chinese 8ball World Cup event due in March 2020 and other subsequent AAPA events.
PAU will also engage Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Sudan, and Tanzania for regional Championship events.
Team Uganda returns aboard Kenya Airlines at 12:45pm today
