The National Netball team, She Cranes\, have completed their group B fixtures of the 2022 Commonwealth games with a 56-43 victory against Malawi.

This was the team’s third victory for coach Fred Mugerwa’s side that had previously defeated Trinidad and Tobago and Northern Ireland. However, the wins were not enough to help the She Cranes progress to the semi-final stage after losing to giants New Zealand and England.

Uganda started by taking a 14-11 lead after the first quarter and a 28-24 lead at halftime. It was a toe-to-toe battle for the two African teams before the She Cranes eventually wrapped it up – winning 56-43.

Mugerwa’s team which finished third in the group with six points from five games behind New Zealand and England will now wait to take on South Africa which finished third in Group A. The two sides will battle to determine which team finishes 5th in the Games.

In Boxing, Uganda Welterweight pugilist Owen Kibira last night also lost his quarter-final bout to Zambia’s Stephen Zimba by a unanimous decision 5-0. Kibira was holding Uganda’s hopes of earning a second medal after bombers captain Joshua Tukamuhebwa lost another quarter-final bout.

After bowing, the onus will be left to a female boxer who is already guaranteed a medal after storming the semi-final. Nakimuli earned a bye after her quarter-final opponent, the Canadian-born Sara Haghighat-Joo who is representing Sierra Leone, weighed in a tenth of a kilogram (0.2lbs) over the 50kg limit, and consequently guaranteed a medal for Uganda.

She is set to face Northern Ireland’s Carly McNaul in a semi-final on Saturday at 2:30 pm to see whether she can change the medal from bronze to either silver or gold depending on the performance she will exhibit.

Athletics

Meanwhile, sprinter Jacent Nyamahunge progressed to the semi-final of the women’s 200-meter distance when she finished third in heat two of the first round. She ran for 24.07 seconds behind India’s Hima Das and Rhoda Mjobvu who finished first and second respectively.

On the other hand,while Nyamahunge was having a good race, her counterpart Abu Mayanja failed to make it out of the heats level when he finished a distant eighth in heat one of the men’s 1500-meter distance. He reached 3:46.56 and he could not make it to the next stage.

Emmanuel Otim also failed to qualify for the next stage after finishing ninth in heat two of the same distance. He finished in 3:51.35 and missed out on the final.