THE KNOWLEDGE: Is it true that Desire Birungi is Late Obua's daughter

Sports

Sunday, 16 May 2010 20:31

Written by Hassan Badru Zziwa

1 COMMENTS

[ This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ] says: “Hey Badru, you forgot to include Ismail ‘Minola’ Kirungi among the top 10 left wingers in Ugandan football. He took Obua’s position on the national team before Godfrey Kateregga came. Kirungi is also remembered for embarrassing defenders.

In fact, he enjoyed fooling his opponents more than scoring goals. That’s why former Cranes coach Westhoff Otto named him and Joe ‘Kawewo’ Ssebuliba as the only naturally gifted players in Uganda.”

True, there is no doubt Kirungi was naturally gifted but he wasn’t an influential player like those I mentioned for the simple reason that he displayed a lot of showbiz and lack of seriousness as you have described him. I don’t even remember a single goal Kirungi scored for The Cranes or any Africa Cup of Nations game he played.

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Edward Ojulu of Seeta says: “Thanks for the wonderful article about Denis Obua. However, how did Obua, a policeman leave Police FC for Prisons?”

When Obua defected to Prisons side Maroons after the 1978 season, Police FC had been relegated to the lower division. This perhaps explains why his bosses didn’t stop him from playing for the Luzira-based side. I also want to correct that Obua joined Maroons in 1979 and not 1978 as I had indicated in my article.
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Moses Isabirye of Luwum Street says: “Hassan you left out Richard Mugalu in the top 10 rankings of the best ten left wingers. He created many goals from the left wing.”

Thanks Moses. He indeed started out as a left winger but due to the high level of competition at the time for the position, Mugalu and several other players turned to the left back position.

Others are Charles Masiko and Adam Semugabi. So, Mugalu played on the left wing at his early days at Express and Coffee but by 1984, he had turned into a left back and even took over the position on the national team till 1993 when he retired.
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Agnes Nalwadda asks: “Is it true that Sarah Desire Birungi is actually Denis Obua’s daughter? I’m asking because she doesn’t have a Langi name.”

True, Sarah actually is Obua’s daughter and he fondly used to talk about her. In fact she is known as Desire Obua. Her mother is Hajati Fatia Kitaka a former shooter player for KCC, NIC and She Cranes. She currently manages NIC netball club.

If anyone out there has a better answer or any other question, why not drop me an email at
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