The Uganda Volleyball Federation (UVF) has expressed delight after the Ndejje Open successfully reinstated competitive play and will now hope to build on it as it seeks to fully roll out its activity calendar.
The 9th staging of the Ndejje University Volleyball Open came to a close on Thursday, 29th April 2021 at the institute’s sports ground in Luwero.
Host teams claimed a double with the institute’s men’s side, Ndejje Sharks beating a now rejuvenated OBB side 3-0 while Ndejje Elites beat KCCA 3-1 to retain the women’s title.
The Ndejje Open is the first local volleyball competitive event to be held since sports activities were reinstated in September last year after a six-month ban. It’s also the only competitive event that took place last year before the Covid-19 pandemic brought sport and other aspects of life to a halt.
“We are in a fine mood that the ball is up again to fly, it’s through the Ndejje Open that we witnessed how eager the stakeholders in the sport were anxious to see it (competitive play) again. There is excitement we have seen in the fans,” UVF First Vice President Abdallah Kiggundu said.
“Ndejje open is one of the activities we have experimented to see how we can fully continue with the sport in considerations of the SOPs of Convid 19. We are expecting calendar events to be more of online streaming in a better way. By time Aporu Okol tournament to be in kumi in June is held, there will be good coverage of UVF calendar events through live streaming,” Kiggundu added.
However, Kiggundu adds that running games in the Covid-19 period is burdening for everyone involved.
“The financial muscles have been stressed more especially with clubs and in so doing it indirectly affects players especially those players that take the sport as its source of earning. Universities have cut off full sponsorship of our game athletes and this has taken an affect to our athletes education progress,” Kiggundu said.
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In a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, all the SOPs set by Ministry of Health through the National Council of Sports are put in place. UVF will soon engage clubs to find ways of assisting them to vaccinate their players and officials.
Other competitions set to serve off this year after the Ndejje Open include; Kabale Open that started today 1st May till tomorrow Sunday 2nd May at Kabale University, OBB International Tournament slated for 10th to 11th July at Iganga OBB Grounds CMS, KAVC International Tournament slated for 14th and 15th August at Lugogo, plus other national engagements, and the like. The league will start in September.
