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Uganda's top badminton players for Ethiopia, Nigeria tourneys

Xinhua, September 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

Uganda's top badminton players Edwin Ekiring and Shamim Bangi will take part in the Ethiopia and Nigeria International Series Championships.

Simon Mugabi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Badminton Association to Xinhua on Monday that the two players will travel to Addis Ababa on Thursday ahead of the Ethiopian International Open slated for Sept. 24-27.

The Nigeria International event will take place Sept. 30 to Oct. 3 in Abuja.

The two players are hoping to use the two tournaments to accumulate ranking points as they struggle to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Ekiring who is currently ranked 84th in the world and top in Africa needs to maintain the good form to brighten his chances of making it to his second Olympic Games.

"After losing to my major rival in Africa Jacob Maliekal (South Africa) in the Kampala International Championship on Sunday I now need to try and perform better in Ethiopia and Nigeria," Ekiring told Xinhua.

The Ugandan top player must however try to be at his best as he will face tough opposition in Ethiopia including Maliekal, Zilberman Misha (Isreal), Wraber Luka (Austria), Zorlu Sinan (Turkey), Belarbi Mohamed Abderrahime (Algeria) and Abdelhakim Abderrahman from Egypt.

On her part Bangi who won the Kampala International title on Sunday will also face a tough time in Ethiopia against the All Africa Games gold medalist and Africa's leading player Grace Gabriel (Nigeria), Foo Kune Kate (Mauritius), Hosny Hadia (Egypt) and Turkey's Yazgan Ebru. Endit