Swimmer Ambala Atuhaire fell short in Heat 2 of the men’s 100m freestyle at Olympics.
Atuhaire failed in his bid to reach the semis after finishing 7th in lane one.
He clocked 54.23 seconds in what was a competitive field at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
The Ugandan swimmer needed to finish among the top 16 from all the nine heats to book a place in the semi-finals but ended up in 63rd position, overall.
Ambala’s preparations were halted after becoming the second member of Team Uganda to have contracted Covid-19 after boxing coach Patrick Lihanda, when the team arrived for camp in Izumisano, Osaka, in June
His performance was not his personal best but definitely Uganda’s best in the race no Ugandan had attempted at the prestigious world games for the past 20 years.
Ambala joins Ganzi Mugula, Gilbert Kaburu, Jamila Lunkuse, Supra Singhal and Daniel Mulumba who are the other Ugandans to represent the nation at the global games.
Uganda’s hope for an Olympic medal in swimming are in youngster Kirabo Namutebi who will be in action on Friday in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Heat 6.
Uganda has now seen five athletes eliminated from the games with Kathleen Noble, Catherine Nanziri, David Ssemujju and Shadir Musa all falling short in their respective fields earlier.
