CHENGDU, April 27 (Xinhua) -- After losing 23 points in a row, the Ugandan women's doubles pair of Fadillah/Naruvoza scored their first point of the match, and the crowd cheered them thunderously.
On the 27th, the first day of the 2024 Tongyou Cup Badminton Tournament, the favorite Japanese women's team and the Ugandan women's team, which participated for the first time, started a competition with a huge disparity in strength.
After losing their first three singles matches, Fadillah/Naruvoza were unable to score in the first game against Japan's Reina Miyaura/Ayako Sakuramoto, but the Ugandan girls were undeterred and waited patiently for their chances.
They were not afraid of strong enemies and moved the audience. "Come on, Uganda!" the crowd cheered them on as they beat the ball. After losing the first game 0:21, the Ugandan pair finally got the first point in the second game, 1:2.
At just 19 years old, Fadillah never imagined that he would be treated as a "home field" in China. "The audience atmosphere was fantastic! I understood their shouting of 'come on' in Chinese, which gave us a lot of motivation when we fell behind. ”
In the end, they ended the second game 4:21, and the Ugandan team lost 0:5 to the Japanese team that lacked the main players Akane Yamaguchi and Nami Matsuyama/Chiyo Shida. The results may not be satisfactory, but the four-student African badminton team has made history of its own.
With South Africa, which had previously qualified for the Uber Cup, withdrawing, Uganda qualified for the alternate tournament by finishing second in the African Championship. The team sent 4 players to Chengdu to participate in the Uber Cup, which was the fewest among the teams participating in the Tongyou Cup.
In an interview with Xinhua News Agency in March, Simon Mugabi, head of the Uganda Badminton Association, explained that due to financial difficulties, Uganda could only send four players who met the minimum number of players to participate in the competition, and even did not have a coach with the team.
With the development of badminton, there are few athletes in the world's top arenas who can compete in both singles and doubles, and the four-player Ugandan team has no other choice. In the day's match, Fadillah, Kobugabe and Mbabazi were in action in the first three singles. The next two doubles matches were played by Fadillah and Naruvoza, as well as African Games women's doubles champions Kobugabe/Mbabazi.
None of the four players are professional athletes, they are all students. Interestingly, Fadillah attended the same high school as Naruvoza, and Kobugabe and Mbabazi came from the same university.
"We are all from the central region of Uganda, where there are not as many badminton courts in Asia and Europe for us to train, so we have to train in school gyms, and if we have good facilities, we can take our skills to the next level," Kobugabe said. ”
Despite the difficult training conditions, the girls still dream of becoming professional badminton players. "If badminton develops well in Uganda in the next few years and creates some badminton-related jobs, we have the potential to become professional athletes. ”
This competition also brought the girls one step closer to their dreams, and it seemed like a surreal experience to compete with star players who could only be seen on the screen. "It's like a dream! We stayed in the same hotel and on the same bus with them, and it was a new experience for us. Kobugabe said excitedly.
Playing against star players has also brought them a lot of gains. Kobugabe was impressed by the concentration of the Japanese players, "Even if they are much better than us, they will do their best to win every point, and this seems to have become their subconscious, giving them the motivation to keep winning. ”
The Uber Cup for four people must be difficult, but wonderful. As Naruvoza said after the game, "It's great to have Uganda here, we're making history".