Uganda national senior hockey sides (men and women) will compete at the 2023 All Africa Games that will be held in three cities in Ghana after the qualifiers for the continental showpiece were cancelled.
Uganda Hockey Association (UHA) in a missive confirmed this development on Wednesday after the continental body Africa Hockey Federation arrived at the decision.
“Following failure to meet the minimum number of teams to compete at the North-East Qualifiers for the 2023 All Africa Games, the Africa Hockey Federation has communicated its resolution to cancel the Qualifiers and use Global Ranking as a basis for qualification for the said region under which Uganda falls,” Uganda hockey said.
“This effectively means that based on our ranking points gained over the last 15 months, highlighted by the National Teams at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations, the Uganda Senior National Teams (Men & Women) have qualified for the July 2023 All Africa Games alongside Kenya (Men & Women), South Africa (Men & Women), Egypt Men and Ghana Women,” another part of the missive read.
Next year’s All Africa Games also double as Qualifiers for the 2024 Olympic Games that will be held in Paris.
However, in an effort to keep the ational sides engaged, through the support of the National Council of Sports and Africa Hockey Federation, Uganda Hockey is engaging the Kenya Hockey Union to stage FIH Sanctioned Series for all National Teams.
Once approved and confirmed, Uganda shall play host to a one-week long event for the U19’s, Masters (35+) and senior national teams. The event-dates will be revealed later.
Uganda’s national league and other tournaments have been running form the beginning of this year hence the players are in good shape for national duty.
