Uganda’s young athletes displayed determination and resilience with encouraging performances across rowing, badminton and table tennis as competition continued at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal.
In the men’s solo coastal beach sprint, rower Marcel Andrew Otim delivered an improved performance in his second time trial at Saly Beach West. He clocked 3:04.97, improving by 19 seconds on his opening time of 3:24.00. His performance included an 11-second beach run and a 2:54.86 rowing section. Despite finishing 24th in the second trial, outside the top eight qualifiers for the last 16, Otim secured an overall 32nd-place finish. His improved time that delivered a personal best reflected his adaptation after struggling with strong currents and choppy water on Saturday.He returns on Tuesday in the team relay in which his Coach Nakisozi Batenga is optimistic,he was will keep improving.
In badminton, Ramiah Bukenya made her Olympic debut against fourth seed Micah Cruz of the United States. Bukenya lost 21-1, 21-5 in 20 minutes but showed improvement in the second game, scoring five points and engaging in longer rallies. She returns to action on Monday against Rajvi Parab.
Meanwhile, table tennis players Joseph Sebatindira, 11, and Jemimah Nakawala, 16, demonstrated fighting spirit despite suffering identical 3-1 defeats against Poland’s Patryk Zyworonek and Katarzyna Rajkowska respectively.
Sebatindira recovered to win the third game 11-6, while Nakawala claimed a closely contested second game 12-10.
Although victories remained elusive, the performances offered Uganda’s young athletes valuable international experience and important lessons for their continued development.
The rugby sevens team got a baptism of fire after losing the opening two pool B games;49-0 to Argentina and a 58-0 defeat by France before falling 41-7 to Japan and get condemned to the classification games.
Uganda sent 25 athletes from athletics, badminton,road cycling,coastal beach sprints,rugby sevens, swimming and table tennis, to the games that end on 13 November 2026.
