Christiana Owomuhangi eyes glory at FISU World University Games

Makerere University’s Christiana Owomuhangi is determined to play her best and leave a mark during this year’s FISU World University Games in Germany.

Apart from the high ambitions and targets she has set for herself, she also wants to continue inspiring more ladies to join the sport.

“I expect to learn a lot from the FISU Games, and I want to attain one of the greatest achievements in my tennis career from there. I have a strong team backing me up so I expect a great performance from us. Personally, I want to play to my best ever at these games,” Owomuhangi said.

“I have prepared well by playing and improved my physical fitness and worked on my mental game to ensure I’m ready for the games, so I’m positive, and I think I will play to my best. I have gotten advice from people who have been there before and I have done a lot of training with Coach Achel Steven, and I have tried to make myself so positive to take this.”

She says she boasts of a solid backhand, and she is good at playing rallies and can last the distance. She is going to team up with one of her most difficult opponents, Victoria University’s Patience Athieno, who she is now going to team up with to ensure success for the country.

Owomuhangi, 22, started in 2010 when she was in primary 2 at Nakasero Primary School. But she had already been training with the Tena Academy and coach Charles Ssenyange at Kampala Club. She already has a couple of accolades to her name from the sport, including from the two-nation FEASA Ladies East Africa tournament at Makerere, where she won a doubles gold with Joy-Anne Tamalie and silver in the singles. She also made the quarter finals during this year’s Uganda Open. In 2024, during the East Africa University Games, she also won a team bronze and made the quarter finals in the singles.

“Women’s tennis is growing in the country, the players are getting motivated, and I see the sport continuing to soar. I want to see more ladies join the sport.”

Her coach, Achel, says Owomuhangi is a very promising player, hardworking and energetic, and he expects good things from her in Germany and beyond the FISU World University Games.

“We expect to see her represent the nation in other tournaments like the Fed Cup, which will be coming up as well, so we expect good things from her.

“The tennis team that is going to the games this time around is one of the best. We have a number of highly ranked team members in the country. We have Frank Tayebwa who is number 2 and Trevor Kazibwe who is number 3. In the Ladies we have Patience Athieno who is number one so we are taking a very strong team both at the university and national level,” Achel stated.