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- Tournament to become a regular event with revolving BA trophy
- First challenge to take place between Kampala Club and Lugogo tennis Club
- Seventies theme to feature in first encounter
Kampala club and Lugogo sports club two of the leading corporate member clubs in Uganda are set to lock horns in a Seventies themed tennis challenge sponsored by British Airways.
Making the announcement during a press conference held at Lugogo Sports Club, Faith Chaitezvi the Country Commercial Manager of for British Airways in Uganda said, “This will be a classic encounter in every sense of the word which we believe will go right down to the wire. Kampala club and Lugogo are two of the best tennis clubs in Uganda each with a rich history, passionate membership and very high quality players”. We are very excited to be associated with this event because so many of the players are our partners and our clients.
Outlining the format of the challenge Victor Drile the tennis captain of Lugogo said Lugogo tennis club will be hosting the event which will take place on Saturday 9th November starting at 9:00 am. “We shall be playing this as a home and away series and since it is us (Lugogo) who challenged Kampala club, we have been given the opportunity to set some of the ground rules. Fourteen players from each club eight men four women, one veteran (over 55) and a youth player (under 13) will play a series of doubles and singles matches over the course of the day. The winner of the challenge will be team that wins the most matches over the course of the day, in case of a draw we shall count the most individual games won to determine the winner.
Responding to questions about the challenge and the expected performance of his team, Aggrey Mwesigye the tennis captain of Kampala club stated that KK was very excited about the BA tennis challenge “the minute we got the invitation we jumped at the chance to play, we have a very strong team which contains a mixture of youth and experience, we are confident of victory both away and at home when we host Lugogo for the return challenge in the next three months”.
Stating BA’s commitment to sponsoring the challenge Faith noted that this is not a one off event the BA Kampala tennis challenge will eventually become a revolving trophy competed for by the top corporate sports clubs in Kampala, we have chosen to start with Lugogo and Kampala Club because they were ready, in the future we will be inviting other clubs to join provided they have members/players and necessary facilities.
Giving background information why BA had decided to sponsor tennis Faith said “for some time now BA has been looking for a sponsorship property that matches BA profile and customer demographic. We singled out Tennis because so many of our fliers play the game; it has health benefits and can be played by people of all age brackets”.
Responding to a question about the 70’s theme, Faith said as BA we are as proud of our heritage which provides us with an indispensable bridge to the future, the seventies was such a fun time for many of our customers and we felt it could be interesting to relive some of this period through music and attire as we talk about the future of the BA firmly focused as being a modern 21st century airline.
Big Names who will be playing in the event for Kampala Club include Captain Jack Calnan and Tugende, while the Lugogo side will feature James Kasumba, Sam Nakabale and Ivan Kyeirembo.
Both Captains thanked British Airways for putting up the money to sponsor challenge which they are confident will become a successful event and a regular feature of the Ugandan Tennis calendar.
