Kasirye twice delivers gold at the Kampala International Future series

Brian Kasirye shone most for Uganda at the recently concluded Kampala International Future series winning two Gold medals in the Men’s singles and men’s doubles finals respectively at the Lugogo Indoor on Sunday.

Kasirye edged United Arab Emirates’ Somi Romdhani in the Singles after he lost one set(14-21) and won two ( 21-16, 22-20).

**Brian Kasirye and Somi Romdhani before the game.**

In the game, Kasirye struggled with the first set and lost it 14-21 due to poor tactical approach to the game trying to follow what Somi was playing and in the end failing to win.

In the second set, Kasirye started the game well but unfortunately it all came to a pause as both bodies cooled off for almost 3/4 of a hour due to power shortage in the Lugogo Indoor Arena that was caused by the heavy rains.

However the game resumed and both Kasirye and Somi went rallied toe to toe with an intention to win the set but Kasirye fought so hard and eventually won the set with a 21-16 score to balance the tie.

In the third and final tie, Kasirye struggled with the smashes but had to dig into Somi who had another good set performance, leading on by three on three occasions.

But to his dismay, he failed to hang on only to give away to the Ugandan after he(Somi) failed at the last 3 three drop shots and hitting wides only for Kasirye to hit cross court to kill to edge the set 22-20.

This result meant that Kasirye had come out on top of Somi after winning his last two sets.

For his second gold of the tournament, he teamed up with Muzafaru Lubega in the doubles category to beat Mathew Abela + Maxine Grinblat ( Malta/Israel)

The Ugandan duo won for contest (21-15,21-14) in the first two sets to quickly settle the final.

**Kasirye and Lubega hugging after the game.**

After the awarding ceremony, we had a chat with gold medalist Brian Kasirye who labeled his final day as tough;

“The games on Saturday in the semi and Quaterfinals were tough and I didn’t recover well so coming in today I was very tired but thank God I put up a show.” he said

“In the final, I lost the first set but fortunately I was able to win second set.”

“In the opening set, I was playing my opponents game and then chose to play my game in the second and third.”

“Am so excited for the support I received from my fans and everyone who was there for me, it’s a good feeling and thank God for it too.”

On the upcoming Uganda International series;

“Uganda International series is starting on Wednesday and I promise everyone that I will put up a show to add to this and will defeat all my opponents.”

“It’s a quite tuff tournament but I will do my best I promise the Uganda, it’s also an Olympic gathering competition so it will push high my ranking”

In the same category, two Ugandan pairs Expedito Emudu + Augustus Owinyi and Kenneth Comfort Mwambu + Abdul Swaburuh tied in third for bronze.

In the other categories, team Uganda came out third in the Mixed doubles thanks to Muzafaru Lubega who teamed up with Husina Kobugabe for a bronze.

Kobugabe once again won another bronze in the Women doubles with Gladys Mbabazi

At the end, Husina Kobugabe affirmed that she was disappointed with her performance in the singles and hopes to do better;

“Reached the semifinals in the women singles, got bronze in the doubles where i was fairing with Mbabazi Gladys and in the mixed with Muzafaru so am glad” she said

“I was hoping for better but am not worried at all and hope to perform extremely well in the next tournaments.” she concluded

Full list of Medal winners.

Mixed Doubles