Tracy Naluwooza will captain Uganda on the 2026 All Africa Senior Badminton Championships scheduled for February 9–15 in Gaborone, Botswana. The skilled shuttler leads a 12-member Ugandan delegation formally flagged off by the Uganda Badminton Affiliation (UBA) at the side of the Nationwide Council of Sports activities (NCS).

Uganda will subject 10 gamers 5 males and 5 ladies competing in each singles and doubles occasions. Naluwooza described her appointment as a proud milestone, calling it her first time to captain a nationwide staff and vowing that the squad is able to compete and signify the nation with pleasure.

The flag-off ceremony was officiated by NCS Assistant Normal Secretary Milton Chebet, alongside Senior Sports activities Officer Sarah Nankya and NCS liaison officer for badminton James Kasumba. Chebet urged the gamers to embrace self-discipline, arduous work, and patriotism as they compete on the continental stage.

The squad blends expertise and youth following modifications from final yr’s staff in Douala, Cameroon. Former captain Amos Muyanja and Augustus Owiny have retired, Kenneth Consolation Mwambu didn’t qualify, whereas ladies’s star Husinah Kobugabe misses out by way of harm. Debutants Kuruthum Nalumansi and Nakajja Olivia have been referred to as up, with Nalumansi partnering Shamika Fadilah Mohammad Rafi in ladies’s doubles.

There’s optimism across the males’s staff, significantly younger abilities Arafat Kibirige Tendo, Akbar Oduka, and Denis Mukasa, all former World Junior Championship members. Uganda additionally carries confidence from the earlier version, the place Naluwooza and Fadilah gained bronze in ladies’s doubles, and Fadilah added a bronze in ladies’s singles.

Seventeen nations will compete, with the most effective males’s and girls’s groups qualifying for the 2026 BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Denmark. Uganda travels on Sunday aboard Ethiopian Airways below head coach Frank Muwuluzi.

Uganda Squad

Males:

Arafat Kibirige Tendo

Akbar Oduka

Lubega Muzafaru

Denis Mukasa

Reagan Michael Nsubuga

Ladies:

Gladys Mbabazi

Tracy Naluwooza (Captain)

Shamika Fadilah Mohammad Rafi

Kuruthum Nalumansi

Nakajja Olivia

Officers:

Coach: Frank MuwuluziMedia Officer: Gonzaga Kakeeto