Paralympics: Swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe First In Action In Tokyo

Swimmer Husnah Kukundakwe will be the first participant to take centre stage for team Uganda at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo.

Kukundakwe is among the four participants in Team Uganda at the games.

Peace Oroma, David Emong and Ritah Asiimwe are the other three.

Kukundakwe who was born with impaired arms, will compete in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke – SB8 in Heat 1 early Thursday morning at 5am.

The best eight athletes overall progress to the final.

At 14, Kukundakwe is the youngest athlete at the games and has competed at different games including the 2019 World Championships in London.

Oroma will be doubling in the Women’s 100m T13 (August 31, 4:30am) and Women’s 400m T13 (September 2, 3:20pm).

Emong who is the only medal winner thanks to his silver at the 2016 games in Rio, will take part in the Athletics Men’s 1500m T46 on August 28 at 4.28am.

Asiimwe, 35, a Badminton player will be in action in the Women’s Singles SU5 on September 5.

Husnah Kukundakwe

Who is Husnah Kukundakwe?

Born by Hashima Batamuriza and husband Ahmed Asiimwe, Husna’s parents did not expect her, born with a stump in place of a right hand and and a left with three short fingers, to survive her first few days in the world let alone flourishing in the pool. Her achievements under water defies belief.

Husna fell in love with swimming at a young age and she has confessed to have loved playing in water before realising that swimming was a sport. She is competing with able bodied swimmers because there are no Para swimmers in the country.

Her dream is to become a professional doctor.

She started swimming when she was five, at Lina nursery school then joined Sir Apollo Kaggwa in P7.

She is a beautiful and cool young girl but flips the switch to a beast the moment she dives in the pool, everyone who has seen her in the costume can confess.

Husna is affiliated to Dolphins swimming club and her rise came when she was one of the best performers at the DSTV swimming gala challenge in 2017 at Greenhill Academy.

She took part in Africa Swimming championship in Nairobi, Kenya in 2018. She also participated in a global event in South Korea in 2018 where she scooped a gold medal.


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