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‘Die a little for your country’ is a phrase politicians and sports administrators love to use when flagging off a team headed to represent Uganda at international competitions.
‘Die a little for your country’ is a phrase politicians and sports administrators love to use when flagging off a team headed to represent Uganda at international competitions.
She Cranes Centre, Margret Baagala, got the memo right ahead of the 2023 Netball World Cup, where Uganda defeated South Africa 49-47 to finish fifth overall.
The victory came with the tag of the most ranked African team in the competition, as South Africa finished sixth and Malawi seventh.
Baagala had no business playing the game; she had been battling Malaria for nearly a week, which was why she missed the 52-50 loss to South Africa in the first place.
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12:57 - 03.08.2023
NETBALL 2023 Netball World Cup: Key She Cranes players hit with malaria
As Uganda seeks to make fifth at the ongoing 2023 Netball World Cup, a malaria outbreak in the She Cranes camp has been confirmed.
She had struggled in the 73-56 win to Wales, but the fighter in her pushed her to soldier on; in the 57-43 win over Malawi, she declined to give a media interview with a blistered upper lip.
Head coach Fred Mugerwa wanted to use her sparingly, but she was never going to take those orders: “The plan was to use her sparingly,” Mugerwa told Pulse Sports on Sunday.
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13:21 - 07.08.2023
NETBALL 2023 Netball World Cup: She Cranes Fred Mugerwa has proved doubters wrong
Coaching the She Cranes to fifth at his first World Cup is not a milestone head coach Fred Mugerwa takes for granted.
“I kept asking her if she was fine, and she told me she was okay; at some stage, I even wanted to take her off, and she told me, ‘Coach, I want to die for my country.”
“And I said, ‘Okay, go and die for your country,’ and after the game, you could see that she had run out of energy, and she collapsed.”
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12:57 - 07.08.2023
NETBALL 2023 Netball World Cup: Government needs to pay more attention to sports, netball in particular
In front of a packed press conference room, She Cranes goal shooter Mary Nuba looked into the camera and voiced a message for the government of Uganda.
Mugerwa added: “But now she is fine and back to her feet; hopefully, she will recover well because it has been a long week for all the girls.”
Baagala is not the only one battling Malaria in the She Cranes team; goal shooters Christine Namulumba and Norah Lunkuse have also been ill.
Baagala, who features for NIC in the domestic league, finished the World Cup with 140 assists.
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