Ugandan sports athletes and administrators recently toasted a successful year with President Yoweri Museveni at a luncheon in State House Entebbe.
The East African nation has registered a number of sporting triumphs all year at different from and it is right to mark it as one of the most successful in recent times.
Probably, only an Olympic medal is missing for Uganda in the 2019 cabinet.
The country’s most successful story was Joshua Cheptegei. The long-distance ticked all his four boxes by first, claiming the World Cross-country title in Aarhus, Denmark back in March.
He then became the first Ugandan to claim a Diamond League trophy when he won the 5000m final in August.
Almost a month later, Cheptegei won the men’s 10000m title at the Doha World Athletics Championships in Qatar.
Early this month, Cheptegei also took the 10km record after triumphing at the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso event in Spain.
Uganda finished third among African nations and ninth overall out of 214 nations in Doha with two gold medals, the other being Halimah Nakaayi’s 800m win.
Athletics scooped 26 continental and global medals all year including two bronze medals at the African Games in Morocco.
The country finished 24th at the Games with six bronze and two silver medals in total from athletics, badminton, boxing and chess.
At the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, Uganda Cranes progressed out of the groups for the first time in 41 years after collecting four points with points against DR Congo and Zimbabwe.
The football teams were pretty dominant in the region, lifting the Cecafa U15 Boys, Cecafa U17 Girls and the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup trophies. The U17 side also won the Cosafa Girls’ tournament.
She Cranes came seventh at the Netball World Cup in Liverpool, England whereas the Rugby Cranes got silver at the Africa Sevens Cup.
The Cricket Cranes also won round one of the ICC World Cup Challenge League B in Oman, their best show at global level in five years.
UGANDA’S 2019 SPORTING SUCCESSES
AFRICAN GAMES
2 Silver & 6 Bronze Medals
FOOTBALL
Cecafa U15 Boys’ Championship
Cosafa U17 Girls’ Championship
Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup
Last 16 at Africa Cup of Nations
ATHLETICS
26 continental and global medals
9th out of 214 members at Doha World Championships
3rd out of 54 African nations at Doha Worlds
RUGBY
Africa 7s Silver
NETBALL
7th at Netball World Cup
SWIMMING
2nd at Cana Zone III Championships
FEASSA GAMES
11 Gold of 23 disciplines
POOL
All-Africa Ladies Blackball Championship
GOLF
East Africa Region IV Championship
Victoria Cup
CRICKET
ICC World Cup Challenge League B Round 1
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This writer is a global broadcaster and as well scribe with Daily Monitor Newspaper and sports presenter with Radio One FM 90 in Kampala. Follow him on Twitter: @AllanDarren and his Facebook Page: Darren Allan Kyeyune