Edwin Ekiring has become the first Ugandan to blasts his way into the medal brackets at the ninth All Africa Games after he picked up top notch victories over Nigeria's and South Africa's No 1 badminton players on his way to the semi-finals in Algiers.
A gritty 2-1 (21-9, 18-21, 21-19) victory over experienced Nigerian veteran Greg Okonghae in the third round on Wednesday morning was followed by a much easier straight sets (21-14 21-10) win past South African high flyer Vjloen in the quarters in the afternoon.
The 23-year-old Ugandan talent, Africa's No 2, will take on Zambian Elly Mwambe on Thursday.
"They are both on the Olympic Solidarity's Road to Beijing training program in Germany. They have never met in a tournament, but Ekiring has been beating Mwambe in training in Germany," Ugandan coach Simon Mugabi was quoted by Daily Monitor on Thursday as saying.
An excited Mugabi said that Ekiring's chances of going past the Zambian into the final would guarantee the Ugandan silver at least.
Should Ekiring beat the Zambian, he is most likely to meet top seed Nabil Lasmaria of Algeria who has been walking through the relatively easier top half of the draw.
Source: Xinhua
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