Fort Portal-based King of Kings beat Entebbe’s Taggy High School 4-2 on penalties after a goalless draw in the final, to win the inaugural edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) Cup played at the FUFA Technical Center in Njeru on Sunday.

TICAD is an international conference, which takes place every three years, bringing together African nations, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society for the development of Africa. It was launched in 1993 by the Japanese government and has since been organized in collaboration with the United Nations, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the African Union Commission (AUC), and the World Bank. This year’s conference themed ‘Towards a resilient, inclusive, and prosperous Africa’ will take place in Tunisia.

Action between King of Kings and Taggy SS (in black and white) during the final of the TICAD Cup at the FUFA Techinical Centre

Goals from Sharon Kanyiginya, Imelda Kasemire, Ruth Nyakato, and Carol Kobugabe from the penalty spot ensured King of Kings won the trophy ahead of five other contestants.

Gloria Nassuna and Prossy Basemera scored Taggy’s only two kicks that would turn out to be consolations for the Entebbe side.

“Our coach gave us good tactics and we applied them well. We had beaten them 3-0 in the secondary school’s tournament, so we knew this trophy was going back home,” King of Kings Captain Oliver Kanyeginya said.

Japanese ambassador to Uganda Fukuzawa Hidemoto (4th right) and JICA Uganda Office Chief Representative Uchiyama Takayuki, State Sports Minister Peter Ogwang and Sports Commissioner Duncans Mugumya (right) inspect the King of Kings SS girls team before the start of the TICAD Cup at the FUFA Technical Centre. Photo by Michael Nsubuga

Taggy SS captain Maria-Goretti Nabbanja blamed his side’s defeat on laxity against a side they had beaten 2-0 in the preliminaries, earlier.

“We took it for granted that we would win and underrated them and paid dearly, but we can look forward to other tournaments,” Nabbanja said.

King of Kings had eliminated Rines SS after a 2-1 win in the semis while Taggy saw off Kawempe Muslim SS 8-7 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

But the biggest celebration of the tournament came from the Pagirinya Young Ladies Sports Club from the Adjumani district after they managed a 2-1 win over Jinja SS in the 5th place classification match.

Having lost 5-0 and 7-0 against King of Kings and Taggy in what were the biggest defeats of the tournament, in the preliminaries, Pagirinya celebrated like they had won the trophy when Peace Siva equalized against Jinja SS in the fifth-place playoff, having conceded first. When she grabbed the winner, later on, the refugee settlement side and their coaches went into wild celebrations, showing how much the goals and the victory meant for the side.

Taggy’s Kamiyat Naigaga emerged as the top scorer of the tournament with four goals in the tournament aimed at fostering peaceful co-existence between host communities and refugees.

 On Saturday, the Japanese ambassador to Uganda Hidemoto Fukuzawa had kicked-off the tournament alongside other dignitaries that included the state Sports minister Peter Ogwang, the UN Women Country Representative Dr. Paulina Chiwangu, UNHCR representative Mathew Crentsil, South Sudan Under Secretary in the Ministry of Sports Peter Baptist, a representative from the Office of the Prime Minister Bafaki, Sports Commissioner in the Ministry of Education and Sports Duncans Mugumya and the FUFA vice president Decolas Kiiza.

Using the famous quote from Nelson Mandela, Fukuzawa underlined the importance of sports saying ‘Sport has the power to change the world, It has the power to inspire people. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.

“We believe we can make changes by promoting Japan’s strength, which is ‘quality growth’ and focus on people and by providing strong support for African-led development,” Fukuzawa noted.

He added that Japan will also contribute to strengthening food security in Africa in response to the food crisis in Africa, which has been worsened by the situation in Ukraine.

He advised participants to imagine how they can change the world and make it a better place in whatever they do, noting that Japan stands by Africa as a partner in development.

The JICA Uganda Office Chief Representative Uchiyama Takayuki advised the participants to combine sport with their education to enrich their lives to get closer to their dreams. He said he is keen on promoting Uganda’s women's football and will share videos of the tournament with women's football teams in Japan for the possibility of having some of the talented girls play professional football in Japan.

Final

King of Kings 0 (4) Taggy HS 0 (2)

Semi-Finals

Rines SSS 1 King of Kings 2

Taggy HS 0 (8) Kawempe 0 (7)

Fifth place play-off

Jinja SS 1 Pagirinya YLSC 2