Charlotte Mudoola

Charlotte Mudoola
2 August 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Charlotte says … before the games I was so nervous that on Wednesday I was unable to eat and even got a fever. I was still at home then so my mum used all kinds of tricks to make me eat. Knowing that I fear I.Vs like crazy she tried to scare me that I would be fed through an I.V if I refused to eat. She even had to check my plate to ensure that I had finished my food. Meeting up with the girls for the evening training session kind of calmed me down. Training was so great that for I moment I forgot about the butterflies.

On Thursday morning I got the worst feeling ever that I lost my appetite. I tried to force breakfast down my throat but I did not succeed: I could not eat anything. Throughout Thursday and Friday I found it hard to eat because I kept thinking about the games that would determine uganda’s fate of qualifying for their first world cup. my roommate (brenda) and I kept waking up on Friday night as we were so nervous about the next day.

Saturday
Wow! Saturday was crazy for me especially before the game against Tunisia. The first games against Zimbabwe and Botswana were not so tough apart from the fact that I missed most of my conversions. I felt so bad but my kicking coach (Helen) was not disappointed, she kept encouraging me and she believed in me. Before the Tunisia game I was all fired up and wanted to butn everything that came my way. I mostly wanted the Tunisian winger (“the acholi”) and their centre (“superstar”). Unfortunately I did not finish the game because I got concussed and blacked out when making a big tackle. At least I prevented a try although everything is “blick” and just stars (I don’t remember and know what happened). When I regained consciousness I started asking connie (our team doc) what happened and what I was doing in the ambulance. Once I found out that we had lost, I cried and started asking for my teammates. Helen and Christine came to the ambulance to get me and I started crying again when I saw them. Christine told me to stop crying and to be strong. it was hard to stop crying but at some point we needed to think about the semifinal. I thought at that moment that we would be playing south Africa in the semifinal but we later found out that we were actually going to meet Tunisia again. that made me happy and I was determined to hit them and carry on where I had left off. I was so sure that I would play the semifinal on Sunday and was so determined and psyched up that I was not bothered about how severe my head injury was. Brenda kept waking me up at night to drink water saying that it would help me recover and that I would be fine the next day. I drank the water like a disciplined child. I think I drank about 8 litres of water in phases that night.

Sunday
I went to helen’s room early in the morning and asked her for her spare head gear which she gave to me. I put it on and slept in it so as to get used to it. I had never worn head gear before. She later strapped my ankle and I was so excited and pumped up. When it was time to leave the hotel, I packed my playing gear and was actually in time for everything. When we reached kampala rugby club I started changing into my warm up gear and then … boom … the coach and connie told me that I was not going to play that day. I felt like my world was crumbling and almost got concussed again from the shock. I could not believe I was going to miss our most important game of the tournament. Tears were in my eyes but Christine asked me not to cry. To make me feel better she promised me that the team was going to play hard for me and the game would be dedicated to me. I admit it sort of helped calm me down but I still wanted to play that game. I finally had to accept the fact that I was not going to play but despite that I had a good feeling that we were going to win. Watching the semi final from the side was torture for me. It reached a point where I put an arm around kyoita’s neck and started dragging her along the line. I was so nervous that I felt my heart drop to my pants. I was so happy when Helen tackled “acholi” so hard, twice (thank you Helen for tackling her. It felt good. It felt like I was doing it).

After
When the ref blew the whistle I could not believe it and ran onto the pitch like a mad woman on crystal meth (not sure what that feels like but I can only imagine). I wanted to cry but noticed most of my teammates were crying so I figured I needed to hold back my tears so I could comfort them. It was the greatest feeling ever, though I could not believe it. I just wanted to scream for everyone to hear plus the deaf and the dead. We had qualified for the “WORLD CUP”.

Final thoughts
I was glad to be a part of that team. I agree with Helen – it was the best team I have ever played with. And now one journey is over and we are about to start the second and final journey. It will be tough and hectic but I know we can make it.

WORLD CUP READY OR NOT, UGANDA IS COMING.

Prossy Nakakande

Prossy Nakakande
5 March 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Prossy says … I always enjoyed the 7’s training sessions. Unlike the 15s sessions, the 7s sessions were more of action thatn talking. There was something new to learn from each session: new moves, skills, abilities, … (interesting). Based on fitness and speed I was confident that I would make it on the 14 (wo)man provisional squad but the position I was training for demamded for more than just that. Confidence and skills as a scrumhalf are very vital. Anyway, I took each day as it comes, so I patiently waited for the dreaded weekend of the world cup qualifiers.

We reported into camp (hotel equatoria) on Wednesday 17th September and all was good. I developed serious 'rugby cramps' (does such a thing exist?) on Thursday morning. I woke up at 5.30am and this huge cloud of rugby was driving me nuts. I could not go back to sleep so I dived on the couch until time for breakfast. I was so relieved after the morning training session when the 'rugby cramps' disappeared for good.

Friday 19th was high and fly for me. On Saturday 20th September, I felt like a winner already as I was confident. I substituted Helen in the game against Botswana and just after getting onto pitch I had to make a big tackle. Unfortunately as Christine came to ruck she collided with me and I got a nasty head knock. The earth made 2 revolutions per second instead of its usual 1 revolution in 366days. Day time stars danced in front of my eyes and I was unable to continue with the days games in that state.

Our final game on Saturday was against Tunisia. It is not everyday that a man shows emotion but as mutaks urged us to play our hearts out he unconsciously slid from the chair on which he was sitting until he ended up on his knees on the ground where he stayed until his speech was done. Then soggy said this prayer full of everything we could have thought of asking for from God at that particular moment. I felt so useless sitting on that bench because even when charlotte got concussed I could not be played. We lost 12 – 05 and mutaks was speechless. Soggy tried to tell girls to forget about the loss that our dream was still within reach. Rumour had it that we would play south Africa in the semifinal and although they were ranked number 1 in Africa I thought that they had not played anything more than ordinary rugby so I knew we could take them on. It would be either them or us. Tight stuff.

The silence and sadness in our camp made my mind go blank. When our semi final was confirmed, we were to meet Tunisia again, girls had to shake themselves out of their numb state. It seemed like an uphill task to beat a team that we had just lost to but girls slowly gained determination and the urge to correct their mistakes and have their revenge on the tunis. God could not have blessed the team more when he made those mutaks and soggy our coaches. If not for me and my country, I felt that it was up to me and the rest of the team to reward these guys by qualifying for the world cup. seriously I did not care much about the loss to Tunisia for I knew the decider was yet to come, be it S.A, Kenya or whoever. I had that much confidence in my teammates and I already felt like a winner so I said a silent prayer to God and asked Him for special blessings for our team. The coach’s condition had me more worried than the rival teams did. Mutaks could pace for miles and miles in a 5 metre space. To me his face said a desparate,’I don’t know what else to do.’ And it was only God and time that would revive him.

On Sunday, I was deemed fit enough to play although not a full game. I came on for harriet in the second half of the semifinal. When I made a big tackle on the Tunisia winger that had been causing problems the entire tournament, my soul said, ‘for mutaks & soggy, for charlotte and to dubai’. I did not care if the Tunisians hogged the ball the whole game as long as they never broke through our defence line. After the final whistle, I thanked God and the first people I hugged were charlotte, mutaks, soggy and then the rest followed. Of course a juicy hug for Helen: she played hardest and also taught me all the rugby I know.

Now we call ourselves ‘world cup material’ and it feels very good to have teammates to share the joy with. I am very proud to be part of the rugby lady cranes squad that qualified for the 2009 7’s world cup and at this point ‘sky is the limit! Come S.A, then Dubai, fly lady cranes!’

Fortunate Irankunda

Fortunate Irankunda
20 May 1983
Height: 5’2
Weight: 83.5kg

Fortunate says … it feels so good to be a national team player although it is not easy to be one. It was one Sunday after Elgon cup that I (face visible in picture) was informed by the UWRA chairperson that I was to join the national 7s team for training. To me it was strange because I was so sure that I could only play 15’s since I was benched in my club during the 7’s league because of my unfitness and laziness. I thought my club coach wanted me to join the 7’s national team training to improve on my fitness. To my surprise we trained the whole week without hearing any word from her. It bothered me as she is my role model: she inspires me, encourages me, picks me up when I am down all because she wants me to be a very good rugby player. This time round she did not "spoon feed" me but left me on my own to see whether I could stand on my own two feet. I did not want to disappoint so I kept pushing. 7’s rugby is very tough: there was too much running, hill work, steps at lugogo ooooooh it was not a joke. Pam and jero kept encouraging me to hang in there and that I would be able to make it. as I became more confident that I could be a good 7s players I was able to put in my all and things became a bit easier.

One of my greatest moments was when mutaks read out the last 14 and I was on that list. I felt really great and proud to be on it and started to see myself on that plane to dubai. I was blessed to make it to the final 12 woman squad and when you are blessed you carry those blessings everywhere. My rugby background also helped as the person I look up to and who "brought me up" in rugby made sure that I yielded good fruits.

In my mind, the days starting running so fast and we were fast forwarded to just before dubai. Friday was checking in at the airport, Saturday was going through immigration and having our passports stamped and the flight was on Sunday. The processing (i.e training) to get that final stamp was not easy but somehow i made it. But back to reality. We checked into hotel equatoria on Wednesday night and I think that’s when it hit most of us that we were representing Uganda and we stood a good chance of actually qualifying for the world cup.

Sunday 21st September after 3pm is a moment I will never forget. Jesus ashamed the devil and I felt so great and proud. I am sure that those who doubted that I would ever be a 7s player wished they were in my shoes. Too many people are used to getting things on a silver platter and forget that to get the best results one has to sweat. From residues to becoming world cup material is a wonderful feeling and I pray that God gives me the strength and energy to keep fit so that the journey to dubai becomes easier for me.

Great thanks to those who have worked tirelessly to make me the way I am i.e. my 7s coaches (david mutaka, soggy, dr Arthur kwizera), my team managers jero and pam, dr connie who worked on my injuries, my club mates (brenda and prossy), the entire 7’s squad (charlotte, aalliya, rose, winnie, christine, yogi, kyoita and kayonjo) and not forgetting my motherly role model & club coach – miss Helen buteme.

Irene Namapii, Chairperson of the Uganda Women’s Rugby Association

How Irene felt before, during and after the qualifiers ... A few months before the qualifiers, I felt that we deserved to qualify because of our no. 2 ranking after S.A in Africa. Our only real threat was Tunisia. 3-4 weeks to the qualifiers, I felt that our chances would no longer be dead sure if the training sessions were not regular and if we did not get financial backing. I was really worried especially about Tunisia as they had thorough preparation plans and the fact that Kenya had brought in their men's 7s experts. 2 weeks to the games, my confidence in the team returned as I watched their training sessions and saw girls putting their bodies on the line in games against Ugandan local men’s 2nd tier clubs. Alas, exactly one week before the event, in Jinja on the sunday, I saw my dreams collapse before me, when there was serious tension in the camp. Thankfully this was sorted out and the girls rallied together and my confidence in them was restored. During the tournament, we played well, but Tunisia and S.A worried me. I was really heartbroken when we failed to use our chances to score on Saturday afternoon and ended up losing to Tunisia. However, by saturday evening, after crying about their loss the girls pulled themselves together and promised to win the semifinal. I was then sure that we were going to qualify, especially after I learnt that we would meet Tunisia again. When we beat Tunisia, I was in a daze and was one of the fans that ran onto the pitch after the game dancing and hugging the players. even though I celebrated with the team and the fans, the excitement of qualifying hit me the next day and continued for the whole week. I’ve been celebrating the whole week and it will be hard to put my feet back on the ground.

Job well done lady cranes and the lady cranes management team.

Aalliya Adania

Aalliya Adania
24 April 1988
Height: 5’4
Weight: 68.5kg

Aalliya says ... On Friday I was so nervous that I could not sleep. My roommate (fortunate) slept early so I went to winnie’s room and we stayed up quite late chatting to calm our nerves. Unfortunately for me, winnie fell asleep in the middle of our conversation and her roommate (kayonjo) was already dreaming. I went back to my room but after several minutes of tossing and turning I got out of bed and walked up and down in the corridor outside our rooms. I eventually tired out and went back to winnie’s room and crawled underneath her blankets and went to sleep. I woke up again at about 4.00am and returned to my room. i switched on the tv and danced to keep my mind off rugby. strangely enough I had a really huge appetite at breakfast and my teammates could not believe the amount of food I had stacked on my plate.

By the time we got to the pitch on Saturday, I was ready for anything and was sure that God would guide us to victory. When prossy got injured against Botswana, I went on to substitute her and almost scored a try. That white line was right in front of me but someone held onto my shorts and I could not move forward however hard I pumped my legs. Christine was right behind me supporting so I popped the ball to her and she scored. It was a great moment for me.

We lost to Tunisia in our pool game and that pissed me off cause we no longer had a 100% chance of qualifying for the world cup. i thought we might meet south Africa in the semi final and in that case it was a 50 – 50 chance. Either one of us could win that game. When the organisers said that we would meet Tunisia again in the semi final, I started smelling the world cup because I knew there was no way that we would lose to Tunisia again. I slept at peace and woke up on Sunday feeling victorious.

The semi final was a tense encounter and it was even worse watching it from the bench. I (visible in picture) cried when the final whistle went and it was all too much for me. My teammates – helena, harriet, charlotte, brenda, yogi, christine, prossy, rose, mary and winnie – and of course myself are all heroines while mutaks and soggy are heroes.

Cheers lady cranes and the big one to God the Almighty.

feelings

before i close this blog, i'll post feelings of members of the world cup bound squad about the whole qualification process.

Relief

I was so relieved when it was all over. I was finally able to break my 8 and a half month alcohol fast and get back some semblance of a social life. I had dedicated all my time to my job and rugby and deserted all my friends (I wonder if we will recognise each other now). We have a 2 week break from rugby so I no longer need to strap my ankles and shoulder. Although putting on the strapping was fine – taking it off that was a problem. It was an extremely painful experience and I had to go through that on an almost daily basis as I could not run or kick without strapping, even if I wore sneakers.

We were only four experienced 7’s players in the squad but as a team we knew each others strengths and weaknesses and made sure we covered our weaknesses while exploiting our strengths. This was surely the best national team that I have ever played in. I am so happy that the team that a lot of people wrote off as being too inexperienced justified mutaks’ and soggy’s belief in us and we have achieved what no other Ugandan sports team has ever managed to achieve.

women’s rugby in Uganda is now the highest achieving sport and we have given the young female rugby players a goal and set a standard for them.

To our fans, our families and friends who have stood by us, the Uganda rugby union, the Uganda women’s rugby association, dr connie, the 7’s management team and our unwavering sponsors – ICEMARK – a big thank you. We would never have got this far without you.

and now, our journey is not over yet. Although we’ve been given a break, when we resume training it will be tougher than what we went through for the qualifiers. we now have a bigger stage to perform on and a larger audience.

DUBAI AND THE WORLD, HERE WE COME!

Do or die

Sunday 21st September: charlotte woke me up early in the morning to ask if she could borrow my spare head gear. I did not have the heart to tell her that she was not going to play. connie had said her concussion was severe and she needed at least 3 weeks and possibly longer before she resumed playing. I gave her the head gear and went back to sleep. She came back later wearing the head gear and asked me to strap her ankle. I got tape from connie and strapped her ankle. We were told not to tell charlotte that she was not going to play. connie said she would find the right moment to break the news to her. charlotte spent the whole morning wearing the head gear so that she could get used to it. It was sadly comical.

We left the hotel at 12.30 and instead of going to kyadondo rugby club we went to kampala rugby club to warm up away from the distractions of the home crowd and our Tunisian opponents. At 2.30 we arrived at kyadondo rugby club: our game was at 3. by the time we (in red) got onto pitch for our semifinal we knew that we were going to win. In attack, I still had to play at fly half while winnie and kayonjo kept alternating between centre and wing. In defence, kayonjo would go to flyhalf, winnie to centre while I would got to the wing to neutralise the dangerous Tunisian winger. Our plan worked and we held the Tunisians (in white) in their half for the first half. We scored a try through Christine that I converted for us to take the 07 - 00 lead. Once again we wasted try scoring opportunities but we put in big tackles and it reached a point that the Tunisians did not want to be caught with possession and their winger was unable to penetrate our defence. Even after Brenda was sent off in the second half they were unable to capitalise on their advantage. When the referee blew the final whistle, the pitch was invaded by ecstatic Ugandans. Players were lifted shoulder high and it took 10 minutes for the tournament organisers to clear the pitch so the other games could go on. We had made history: our hard work had paid off and we were going to dubai.

We played the final against south Africa and although we had thrown everything we had into the game against Tunisia we still put up a good fight against our southern opponents. we turned over almost all the south African scrums but did not use our chances effectively. Even after one of the south Africans was sin binned we still failed to score. The south Africans on the other hand maximised on their chances and scored 2 tries in each half. The final score was 24 – 00.

day 1

Saturday 20th September: I did not have breakfast and I felt sick. I strapped my ankles as well as charlotte and prossy’s and took my time doing it to calm my nerves. Connie, our team doc, strapped my right shoulder then offered to give me a jab to keep the pain at bay. I warned her to keep needles away from me if she wanted me in the right frame of mind to play.

We got to the tournament venue (kyadondo rugby club) at midday and there was a nice big crowd. Ugandans had shown up in big numbers to support us. We were either going to make history as uganda’s first ever world cup bound team or we would end up on the huge pile of Ugandan sporting failures. We were under huge pressure to succeed and we all felt it. More so the senior players (charlotte, christine, winnie and i) who had the rookies looking up to us.

Our union had got us brand new kit and it looked good – it looked better than the men’s kit – and we stood tall. Our first game was against Zimbabwe and they did not present to us much of a challenge. I was playing on the wing but winnie (who was playing centre) and I kept switching positions in attack to spice up our attacking moves. We beat Zimbabwe 30 - 00. the Botswana game was just as easy and we came off the pitch with a 48 – 00 win.

The much anticipated clash was our game against Tunisia and it was the last game of the day. We kept the Tunisians in their 22 so the first half of the game but squandered so many try scoring opportunities. Charlotte got concussed after making a big tackle so I had to switch from the wing to flyhalf while winnie (with ball in picture) went to the wing and kayonjo came in at centre. We went into half time tied at 0 – 0. early on in the second half I scored out wide but twisted my ankle slightly in the process. Our number one kicker (charlotte) was off and I could not kick at that moment so Christine attempted the conversion and missed. We were 5 – 0 up. a break in concentration had the tunisian flying winger scoring a try between the posts. The conversion was missed and the score was 5 -5. in the last 2 minutes, the Tunisian captain was sent off for a professional foul and although we put the Tunisians under pressure we knocked on in their 5 and the Tunisians scored off the scrum after collecting a deep kick over our heads. This time round the conversion was good and the Tunisians won the game 12 – 05. we were devastated and there was not a dry eye in the team. Mutaks and soggy had a hard task trying to lift our spirits. The top 4 teams were reseeded after day 1, south Africa has scored more tries than Tunisia so were number 1. we had scored more tries than Kenya so were seed 3. south Africa were to meet Kenya again (seed 1 versus seed 4) while we also met Tunisia again (seed 2 versus seed 3) in the semifinals. We went to sleep after planning how to exact revenge on the Tunisians.

Final touches

Wednesday 17th – Friday 19th September: we checked into hotel equatorial after our Wednesday training session. We found the Tunisians already settled in and at home. we went through our moves on Thursday morning and afternoon and did the final touches on Friday morning. After the Friday session, we had to go through the ice bath. Soggy insisted we all had to get in for one minute. he told the faint hearted to do it in sets of 15 seconds. Winnie and aalliya each did one and a half minutes at one sitting. Fortunate did one minute at one sitting then later got back in and did 2 minutes. Yogi, prossy and rose did their one minute with minimum fuss while Christine did hers in 4 sets of 15 seconds. Kyoita, Brenda, charlotte, kayonjo and I provided the usual drama. kayonjo put in her legs for 5 seconds then got out while Charlotte and kyoita immersed their bodies for 10 seconds then got out while shedding tears. The team tried to convince me that the ice would do my ankles and shoulder a world of good. I sniffed my disbelief and tearfully eyed the ice bath. Brenda looked ready to collapse and also refused to get in. soggy eventually gave up trying to persuade the two of us and kayonjo to get in and kyoita and charlotte to complete their 3 sets of 15 seconds. we went back to the hotel and spent the afternoon relaxing (I got straight into a hot tub of water) and watched dvds of men’s IRB 7s series games for inspiration.

south africa arrived early on friday morning, while zambia around lunch time. kenya, zimbabwe and botswana arrived in the evening. cote d’ivoire and madagascar pulled out at the last minute so a Uganda A team had to assembled so that the teams could be divided into 2 pools of 4. we had our old adversaries tunisia, debutants botswana and zimbabwe. we knew our toughest game would be Tunisia. they had finances that we did not have and had camped in france for one week and then in south Africa for another week before coming to Uganda. the south africans had been touring the world taking part 7's tournaments gasint world class teams . We had camped in jinja (uganda) for 2 days prior to the tournament. All of a sudden our preparations seemed inadequate ...

final 12

Tuesday 16th September:

Aalliya Adania (Rangers)
24 April 1988
Height: 5’4
Weight: 68.5kg

Winnie Atyang (Thunderbirds)
27 September 1985
Height: 5’7
Weight: 71.5kg

Helen Buteme (Black Panthers)
27 May 1980
Height: 5’4
Weight: 54kg

Fortunate Irankunda (Black Panthers)
20 May 1983
Height: 5’2
Weight: 83.5kg

Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Thunderbirds)
22 January 1984
Height: 5’2
Weight: 59.5kg

Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers)
11 February 1987
Height: 5’1
Weight: 55.5kg

Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds)
12 December 1972
Height: 5’5
Weight: 57kg

Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds) – Captain
16 November 1975
Height: 5’9
Weight: 101.5kg

Mary Kyoita (Rangers)
19 April 1986
Height: 5’0
Weight: 49kg

Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers)
2 August 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Prossy Nakakande (Black Panthers)
5 March 1984
Height: 5’3
Weight: 55kg

Josephine Namayega (Thunderbirds)
15 September 1979
Height: 5’8
Weight: 76kg

Coaches: David Mutaka and Robert Seguya
Team manager: Jeroline Akubu
Team doctor: Dr. Connie Olwit

Aalliya, Fortunate, Rosenburg, Brenda, Prossy and Josephine (Yogi) get their first 7’s caps while Mary gets her first ever cap.

rumour has it that Tunisia arrives tomorrow.

we check into hotel equatoria tomorrow so this will be my last entry until after the tournament.

3 days to go.

final trials/build up

Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th September: our final trial games and build up. now we wait for the real thing.

no training on monday. we resume on tuesday.

7 days to go

Friday 12th September: game plan, game plan, game plan. was a good session. at the start, the weather looked dodgy but at least it held until we finished training. hope it holds for the tournament too. in my opinion, there is nothing uglier than wet 7’s.

we go to jinja tomorrow for a 2 day camp.

Ice bath and the 14

Wednesday 27th August – Wednesday 10th September: fitness, contact drills, games and game plan (defence and attack). along the way, robert seguya (soggy) joined the coaching team as mutaks’ co-coach - he’s played lots of 7’s for uganda. training has been going well except the deadly boda boda (joan andika) and no nonsense asha sonko are both injured and are unlikely to recover in time for the tournament.

after a hillwork session with doc the dreaded ice bath reared its ugly head on wednesday (10th sept). it provided comedy depending on which way one looked at it. the ice bath is supposed to help with quick recovery and one has to get in up to the neck and stay there for between 40 seconds to one minute (sheer madness if you ask me). anyway, we had one prior to the elgon cup (which we lost) in august as a 15’s team and charlotte and i made a big production about not getting into the ice. tears were shed but eventually charlotte got in for about 10 seconds however i escaped. after a long struggle, kayonjo (in picture with ball) got in and afterwards swore that people wanted to kill her ... this time round, other actresses wrote themselves into the icebath comedy script: kyoita and brenda (2 rookies) were dragged kicking and screaming into the showers while kayonjo took off into the night faster than usain bolt. charlotte and i tried appealing to docs sweet nature and came up with all sorts of allergies to cold water but he was having none of it. in the end, charlotte, kyoita and i jumped in together screaming blue murder and chanting ‘we can do it, we can do it’ then got out after 10 seconds yelling that we could not. doc was not at all impressed and ordered us back in. after lots of drama, we completed our 40 seconds in sets of 10. brenda got into the icebath looking like she was going for a funeral and did about 20 seconds in sets of 10 before doc’s heart softened and he let her go. as for kayonjo, she re-emerged from her hiding place in time for the team supper …

after the team supper, mutaks read out the provisional squad of 14 – he said the final cut will be on 17th.

The 14

Aalliya Adania (Rangers)
Winnie Atyang (Thunderbirds)
Stella Bakole (Thunderbirds)
Helen Buteme (Black Panthers)
Fortunate Irankunda (Black Panthers)
Rachael Kakaire (Thunderbirds)
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (Thunderbirds)
Brenda Kayiyi (Black Panthers)
Harriet Kayonjo (Thunderbirds)
Christine Kizito (Thunderbirds)
Mary Kyoita (Rangers)
Charlotte Mudoola (Rangers)
Prossy Nakakande (Black Panthers)
Josephine Namayega (Thunderbirds)