Bwanika Mansoor and Mutesi Rashidah do it again on the Green Bed in the Masaka Championship.

Bwanika Mansoor and Mutesi Rashidah do it again in the Who is the Pool King and Queen in Uganda which was played over the weekend under the Pool Association of Uganda with a sponsorship of Olivander Adams with cash prizes of more than UGX5millions. The two players came out as the winner of the 128players in the men category and 32players in the women category.

Green woods Club in Masaka was a bee hive of pool activity over the weekend, climaxing with the coronation of Bwanika Mansoor and Rasheeda Mutesi as King and Queen of the Ugandan pool tables.

128 men (only the best from 13 districts including Kampala, Jinja, Wakiso, Mukono, Gulu, Lamwo, Kitgum, Mbarara, Rukungiri, Kyotera, Ibanda, Kasese and of course Masaka registered for the second truly national championship of the year which was held from 18th-19th December. 30 top ladies also registered to contest the Pool Queen championship which had last been won by Vicky Namuyanja in 2018.

Bwanika was drawn against Timothy Kasujja who became first round victim, losing 5-1. The second round saw him fight off a challenge from Kenneth Kabushenga with Mansoor winning 5-3. The 3rd round saw the talented national champion overcome Caleb Muhirwe 5-2 to avenge the defeat in the Kajjansi open. In the Quarter finals, Mbarara-based shooter Amos Keith was still no much, the champion was starting to roar with a 5-1 victory. To make matters interesting, his rival I lbrahim Sejjemba was on the neighboring table losing 6-4 to Fort Portal’s finest player Ivan Murungi.

Ivan was having a very good tournament of his own, having earlier eliminated Lubulwa Simon before Ibra to reach the semis for the second consecutive time in an event outside Fortportal. Other renown stars like Gumikiriza Alfred, Ssebuguzi Habib, Settumba Geoffrey could not survive the prowess of Akampulira Richard and Turigye Jonah who was by the semi final the best player in the tournament.

Joker wasn’t facing too much hardship against earlier opponents like Mugabi Zidane, Kiyimba Steven, Ssebuguzi Habib and Gulu’s finest- Kenneth Odong. When Ivan beat Ibra, he next faced Joker in the semis, but the veteran who was having a good day defeated him 6-3 as Mansoor overcame the tournament’s surprise package Fred Muweesi by 6-2 in the other semi.

The dream final was on as Mansoor and Joker clashed again with 2 having even records against one another in recent events. Turigye led 1-0 but wasn’t given room to celebrate as Mansoor’s attacking prowess became too superior to take the match 8-2.

This becomes Mansoor’s 5th championship won out of the last 6 major Calendar events. This earns him a seat amongst the greatest players PAU has produced, just like Rasheeda in the ladies’ category.

The young lady has been winning alongside Mansoor; 5/6 too; to re-empharsise her status as one of the finest female shooters on the continent. In a very unique way, she reached the final without losing a single game; not even against her elder sister Rukia who went down 6-0. In the final, Ankah surprised everyone including herself, matching Rasheeda’s attacking system with a rather calculative risk free defensive approach which took the final to a decider. Rasheeda composed herself to win the all important game; the rest is history.

The event was concluded with the coronation of His and Her Majesty Mansoor and Rasheeda by former Pool Queen Vicky and losing finalist Joker.

Special thanks to Adam Olivander for partnering with the P.A U to sponsor the event.

 

 

WRITES SIMONPETER KYOBE.

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