‘Uganda too broke to send Volleyball Cranes to Africa Cup’ -Players told

Uganda's libero Emmanuel Elanyu receives the ball at the African Championship two years ago /COURTESY PICTURE

VOLLEYBALL ‘Uganda too broke to send Volleyball Cranes to Africa Cup’ -Players told

Ndyamuhaki J Emanzi 15:35 - 21.08.2023

Uganda finished fifth at the continental showpiece in Kigali, Rwanda, two years ago but will not have the opportunity to build on that.

Uganda Volleyball Cranes players have been told there is no money to facilitate the team to this year’s CAVB Men’s African Nations Volleyball Championship next month.

The Cranes were slated to take part in the championship scheduled for September in Cairo, Egypt but have now been informed that will not happen.

“We have been told we are not travelling because there is no money,” one of the players told Pulse Sports on Monday.

The team met with the Uganda Volleyball Federation president on Saturday to receive the news, and the players were left devastated.

Uganda finished fifth at the continental showpiece in Kigali, Rwanda, two years ago but will not have the opportunity to build on that.

The country is still filled with jubilations following Joshua Cheptegei’s heroics of winning a third-straight gold medal in the 10,000m race at the World Athletics Championships.

But there are teams still struggling to attract enough funding from the government to take part in international competitions.

The Uganda Volleyball Lady Cranes are in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for the African Championship, but a source close to the federation revealed that the team left with no government funding.

The men’s senior basketball team, Silverbacks, has also missed two tournaments this year due to a lack of funding.

George Galanopolous’ charges were meant to participate in the FIBA Afro-CAN Qualifiers held in Dar es Salam, Tanzania, in June but sat out with no finances.

The same team then missed the Pre-Olympic Qualifiers that concluded over the weekend in Lagos, Nigeria.

In the case of volleyball, it is now a case of one team competing at a time.

The women’s team missed the last championship in Rwanda in 2021, and this time round, it is the men who will sit out and wait another two years.