Saturday Vision, October 1, 2011 11 Sports Extra... [email protected]

All Africa Games analysis The adventures of our VETTEL ENJOYS MASSIVE LEAD netball stars in Maputo F1 STANDINGS Result and standings* after Sunday’s By Dr. ROBERT OPOKA heartbeat of the team. They were diminutive and fearless and con- Singapore Grand Prix ganda shone at the trolled the tempo of the matches just concluded All skillfully. RACE RESULT (Top 3) Africa games in Driver Team hr:min:sec Maputo, Mozambique. The two Carolines The overall haul of In defence the two Corolines 1 RB 1:59:06.757 Usix medals (3 golds, 1 - Nyafwono and Badaru - were 2 Jensen Button ML +00:01.737 silver and 2 bronze) mean and miserly, giving nothing was the best showing of any Ugandan away as the goal attackers from 3 Marc Webber RB +00:29.279 team at an international event of such a the opposing teams can testify. In magnitude. It was much better than the attack goal shooter Peace Proscovia three we got at the previous All Africa was graceful and clinical. She is a DRIVER STANDINGS (Top 10) Games in Abuja 2007. goal machine, and single-handedly Driver TeamWins Pts However, the best team performance destroyed some teams. Against by any team in the games was arguably Mozambique for example she 1 Sebastian Vettel RB 9 309 that of the She Cranes in netball. They scored 73 goals as the She Cranes were simply flying in a higher orbit handed out a 103 to 8, netballing 2 ML 2 185 than the rest. They showed a maturity, lesson to the hosts. 3 F 2 184 organisation and level of performance Yet the best individual perfor- that is rarely associated with Ugandan mance was given by the team 4 RB 0 182 teams. captain Florence Amono. The Netball was played on a round robin 38-year old goal attacker was often 5 ML 2 168 format, meaning all the teams that the difference, especially in the big participated had to play each other. The games. She is devastating with a 6 F 0 84 team with the most points at the end ball in her hand. She is able to hit 7 M 0 62 being declared winner. the net from anywhere around the goal circle, a basketball equivalent 8 M. Schumacher M 0 52 of a three-pointer. Her clinical The She Cranes finishing took the stuffing out of 9 Vitaly Petrov R 0 34 opposing teams in tight matches. 10 R 0 34 She was completely outstanding, played eight, won phenomenal! Of course the achievement of TEAM STANDINGS eight - a Games re- the She Cranes couldn’t have been possible without the good work 1 RB Red Bull 491 cord. of coach Fred Mugerwa and the 2 ML McLaren 353 able leadership of manager Stella Kwebiha and the Ugandan Netball 3 F Ferrari 268 Federation. The She Cranes played eight, won eight It is amazing to think that the 4 M Mercedes 114 - a Games record. They beat every team netball team was nearly dropped they faced! Teams with big reputations from the Ugandan contingent to 5 R 70 like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Bo- the Maputo games because of lack 6 FI Force India 48 tswana, neighbours Kenya and Tanzania of funds. It required the personal were all brushed aside. They scored an intervention of President Yoweri 7 S Sauber 36 incredible 552 goals, 121 more than Museveni to top up the sh264m their nearest rivals. required for the Ugandan team to 8 TR Toro Rosso 29 Inevitably the She Cranes also pro- travel to the games. 9 W Williams 5 duced the best individual performances. Centre player Halima Nyakacwa and Dr. Opoka was the physician of wing attacker Rukia Meme were the Team Uganda in Maputo *Provisional This weekend sisted by the appointment of the THIS IS WHY FUBA SHOULD APPOINT A CEO NOW federation CEO, as agreed upon by FUBA Basketball League FUBA’s elective assembly in June. PICTURE BY MICHAEL NSUBUGA Saturday easier than going around knocking This was one of the major conclu- Charles Mutebi believes that a on corporate doors with proposals. sions of the gathering, second to Men’s div 1 CEO would help FUBA to capture And it seems the latter option had the ratification of the new constitu- Heaters v Marines (KIU) the greater appeal for Kyambogo tion. Men’s Division One the dizzy heights of sponsorship and A1. The CEO would mark a major Gulu v Veg (Gulu) This is forever the frustration shift in the administration of Men’s Division Three s the Kyambogo War- with local hoops – that refusal for local basketball and if the right riors fell off Uganda’s the administrators to think and man/woman were appointed, real Makindye v Crane High (MUK) Zone Five bandwag- especially operate outside the box. progress would be made. The CEO on, one couldn’t help There is little dispute about the would dedicate their time wholly Sunday Abut feel frustrated. massive potential of local basketball to taking the game forward, unlike Women The Warriors, like Local players stand to benefit but what is remarkably missing is the current officials on the FUBA Gladiators v A1 (KIU) A1 Challenge before them, say the leadership to tap into it. executive who are volunteers. they simply don’t have the money now; the real question is, couldn’t ‘We don’t have money’ is the With SuperSport splashing the to participate in the week-long they have raised the money in the broken record of local basketball. cash around, a CEO would for in- Men’s Division Two basketball tournament that will be months before? The answer is they But what we should really be sing- stance approach the company about Life v Riders (KIU) held in Tanzania. probably could but simply didn’t ing about is how to exploit the gold telecasting Ugandan basketball as is But the question is not whether take the time and effort to find it. mine that is basketball. going to be case with the Nigerian Men’s Division Three they have or don’t have the money Sitting about and hoping is still This process will be greatly as- League. Let us have a CEO now. Ssaku v City Oil (MUK)