The National women’s basketball team, The Gazelles returned to the country on Monday night, August 4.
This followed the disappointment of not qualifying for the Fiba Women’s Afrobasket semi-finals, after what had been a blistering start to the campaign from July 26 to August 3 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Had The Gazelles made it into the semi-finals, as they were expected to, they would by now be preparing their bags for the Fiba Women’s World Cup qualifiers later this month.
But instead, the team has to contend with what would have been a good opportunity to compete for one of the 16 World Cup slots. The World Cup is slated for Germany in September next year. However, after coming short in their attempts to try and qualify for the World Cup, is there much to celebrate when a team does not reach its objective?
Tom Ocamringa, a basketball coach said: “Of course there is much to celebrate about the Gazelles. They proved that they are a good team. But at the same time, we cannot be oblivious to the fact that they are still a developing team.”
According to Ocamringa, the fact that The Gazelles, ranked 52 in the world by the Federation of International Basketball Association (Fiba), were able to beat Senegal, ranked 27, and at the same time, 11-time Afrobasket champions, was no mean feat. This was a pointer that they can match the best out there.
In addition, John Omondi, the national under-18 girls basketball coach opined that seeing that seven of the 12 players on the team ply their trade in the domestic league, pointed to the fact that the coaches at home are doing a good job. Nick Natuhereza, the head coach, handles the UCU Canons.
But at the same time, it was a good thing to see the competitive streak of the players against opposition that play at a higher level, much of which is professional and better established in terms of facilities. On the other hand, seeing The Gazelles suffer a quarter-final defeat to South Sudan, who are ranked at 86 in the world was disappointing to many.
Whereas South Sudan’s defeat of Egypt, which is ranked 37 was celebrated widely around Uganda, the overconfidence of Ugandans appeared to have spread to the players. In the end, it cost the team. Such things happen, even though it is hard to run away from the criticism, nevertheless.
But over all, South Sudan also exposed Uganda’s deficiencies on height, as much as it did the lack of substantial contribution from the bench players when called upon. Yet, the failure for The Gazelles to maintain the competitive streak after they lost in the quarter-finals also showed a lack of character in the team. In the 2023 Afrobasket, Uganda finished seventh of the 12 teams in the tournament.
So, the expectation this time, was that they would be better. But like was the case in 2023, after they beat Senegal, they fell to their close door neighbour, Rwanda, once Jane Asinde got injured. During one of his post-match comments in the classification games, Natuhereza noted how he felt that his charges had lost the fight once they did not make the semi-finals.
Essentially, Natuhereza seemed to acknowledge that he did his best to rally the troops for a good finish, possibly fifth, but they just could not go on. This raised the question: Why he had to stick to players, whose body language suggested they were no longer in it, instead of giving those on the bench, who, by all counts would be excited to prove a point, a chance to play more minutes?
In that regard, Ocamringa said: “Basketball has a hierarchy. It is difficult for a coach not to stick to his best players regardless.”
But then, how would that affect the psychology of another player not given enough playing time to prove themselves, too? Clearly, there will be mixed feelings about The Gazelles exploits in Abidjan especially considering that they lost three of five games.
For what it is worth, Gazelles captain, Jane Asinde was voted among the tournament’s best five players. It is the more reason why The Gazelles focus should be on the future. The the 2027 Fiba Women’s Afrobasket will have its two finalists qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. So, the prospects remain huge for Natuhereza and his Gazelles side.