By Aggrey Baba
With a casual kick and a confident smile, President Yoweri Museveni scored the opening goal (literally) as Uganda officially launched the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds today, Friday in a moment marking the start of a major continental tournament that Uganda co-hosts with Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda will be taking part in CHAN for the seventh time, with the tournament bringing together 19 African countries and featuring players who play in their home leagues.
The national team (Uganda cranes) is placed in Group C and will play its matches at Mandela National Stadium in Kampala, beginning the campaign on August 4 against Algeria. Their second game will be on August 8 against Guinea, then Niger on August 11, after which, the team will have a rest on August 15 before playing South Africa on August 18.
While launching the tournament, Museveni said CHAN had pushed government to speed up development of sports infrastructure that was not planned before, explaining that CAF, the organisers of the tournament, asked all host countries to have at least three international-standard stadiums near airports.
Because of this, Uganda renovated Mandela National Stadium (Namboole), rebuilt Nakivubo into the new Hamz Stadium, and started building new stadiums in Hoima, Wankuluku and Lira (Akibua Stadium). Hoima was selected as a host city partly because it already has an airport.
During his speech, the President also talked about the different benefits of sports, which he grouped into three main areas, with the first being personal benefits. According to him, sports help individuals build stamina, discipline and determination. He also said playing sports improves health and develops important life skills, adding that many sports require teamwork, and learning how to work well in a group helps people succeed both on and off the field.
The second area is public benefit, whete the President said sports bring joy to people and also make countries more known internationally, giving examples of athletes who brought fame to their countries. He mentioned Kenyan runner Kipchoge Keino, who won gold in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, and Uganda’s John Akii-Bua, who won gold in the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany. Museveni said that during Akii-Bua’s win, officials struggled to find Uganda’s national anthem, which showed how little the world knew about the country at that time, but the win helped raise Uganda’s name globally.
The third benefit, he said, was for the youth, describing sports as a good way for young people to use their energy in a safe and healthy way. He said that after playing, for instance football, one becomes tired and goes home to rest instead of getting involved in bad behaviour.
After giving his remarks, the President officially launched the tournament by kicking a ball into an open goal, alongside the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni, Vice President Jesca Alupo, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa.
The act, though simple, showed the country’s full commitment to the tournament, with the master of ceremony (MC) calling Museveni’s goal a historical one, though according to him (MC), it wasn’t the first one, Mudeveni having been footballer in the past.
Playing on home soil, many are hopeful that the Cranes will finally go beyond the group stages and maybe even win the tournament for the first time in CHAN history.
The stadiums are ready, the fans are excited, and the tournament is officially underway. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
