It was a colourful event at the Uganda Olympic Committee when the now-former Board Of Administrators headed by Namanda Hadija handed over to Sadik Nasiwu and his team.
The event was attended by Uganda Volleyball Federation Executives plus a few journalists. The main highlight of the event was the FIVB volleyball cake that new boss Sadik Nasiwu arrived with. This was meant for only the outgoing and incoming officers and invited members of the press were not allowed a piece of what starts the new chapter in Uganda volleyball
This happened a week after the AGM was held at Lugogo Hockey field area where the new Board of Administration was elected by the different affiliates of the federation through their chosen delegates.
“The hand over is a starting point and a continuation of the previous 4 years to the next 4 years. So, it is important and it is also a time of stock-taking to know where exactly you have been and where you are supposed to go and also gives you a starting block where to start from. So, it is a very important activity in the process,” said Nasiwu
“The next 4 years is obviously the development of the game as we have been re-echoing it, we want to develop the game and add on what has been there, we want to go to the grass root of volleyball, we want to go to the schools where we have always got the athletes. We also want to see how we can come out of this lockdown. The sport has been locked down, there are no activities running, the league is not running, most activities on the court are not there, something we want to re-activate and from that, we shall look at the other issues in the process,” added Sadik Nasiwu
“I think I give thanks to God for having been given the opportunity to serve the sports at the helm. It is not something I would say is a piece of cake, it is a lot of hard work, you have to think about the sport. It is a lot of effort to ensure that we are out there afloat. So, it has been a lot of sacrifice from the executive and board. a lot of sacrifices to ensure that we have a lot of exposure for our athletes even with the little resources that we have. I would like to thank the different teams, the clubs, the schools, and the institutions for having worked so hard to ensure that the ball is kept flying. It is a lot of sacrifice from all the different key stakeholders because as everyone knows it, volleyball is a voluntary sport and people invest their money to ensure that they go for championships,” said Namanda Hadija.
Nasiwu emphasized the issue of players being out of action for a very long time and promises that most efforts will be put into seeing the league resume as soon as possible. He also mentioned the requirements needed to host an international event bundled together with the time constraint that led to the decision to drop the U20 Championship. The president said the federation will do its best to see the U20 ladies team participate in the tournament wherever it will be hosted so as to lose double the opportunity.
