18 December 2011
UGANDA : Enabu still has to wait as brothers celebrate
Denis Enabu ran on to the YMCA court when the final buzzer sounded on Friday night to bring an end to an exciting best-of-seven MTN-Fuba League final series like a firefighter.
His quickness was matched by hordes of DMark Power fans celebrating a narrow 99-97 win over Warriors to complete a successful defence of the national basketball title.
Unlike all other fans who knew where their allegiances fell, Denis, a pilot in Canada, here for his annual holiday, must have had torn loyalties.
Three of his younger brothers he taught how to play had been on the floor - Warriors’ Ivan plus the Power duo of Emmanuel and Jimmy. All with a common family name – Enabu.
Denis chose to embrace Ivan first and whisper into his left ear for minutes before congratulating the other two. He surely felt his pain.
Ivan has still failed to match what Emmanuel (twice) and Jimmy have accomplished.
Another brother – Mark – and sister – Evelyn have also won the national title with Power (2008) and UCU lady Canons (2008) respectively.
By far the most popular from the family, the extremely skilled Ivan, MVP when Uganda won the Zone V Nations Championship in 2005, still doesn’t have a national title.
Figures of 92 points and 33 assists at an average of 13.1 in a series where he played through a painful groin and suffered an ankle in the decider, limiting his movement, deserve a championship.
He spent six years at UCU Canons where he was joined by Jimmy in his final year there.
Before Jimmy offered a helping hand, Ivan lost in two semifinals and together, they lost to Warriors in the semis last year.
They moved on and the Ivan-wait goes on. No wonder he couldn’t speak and his eyes were red, holding back tears.
His quickness was matched by hordes of DMark Power fans celebrating a narrow 99-97 win over Warriors to complete a successful defence of the national basketball title.
Unlike all other fans who knew where their allegiances fell, Denis, a pilot in Canada, here for his annual holiday, must have had torn loyalties.
Three of his younger brothers he taught how to play had been on the floor - Warriors’ Ivan plus the Power duo of Emmanuel and Jimmy. All with a common family name – Enabu.
Denis chose to embrace Ivan first and whisper into his left ear for minutes before congratulating the other two. He surely felt his pain.
Ivan has still failed to match what Emmanuel (twice) and Jimmy have accomplished.
Another brother – Mark – and sister – Evelyn have also won the national title with Power (2008) and UCU lady Canons (2008) respectively.
By far the most popular from the family, the extremely skilled Ivan, MVP when Uganda won the Zone V Nations Championship in 2005, still doesn’t have a national title.
Figures of 92 points and 33 assists at an average of 13.1 in a series where he played through a painful groin and suffered an ankle in the decider, limiting his movement, deserve a championship.
He spent six years at UCU Canons where he was joined by Jimmy in his final year there.
Before Jimmy offered a helping hand, Ivan lost in two semifinals and together, they lost to Warriors in the semis last year.
They moved on and the Ivan-wait goes on. No wonder he couldn’t speak and his eyes were red, holding back tears.
# posted by afrbk : 15:17
