Fadilah Shamika\u2019s rise to the continental summit of badminton has been rapid.<\/p>\n
She announced herself on the continent in December last year when she won gold at the All Africa Junior Championships in Mauritius.<\/p>\n
She was consequently considered the underdog against the more experienced Johanita Scholtz when the two met in the women’s singles final as the All African Badminton Championships wrapped up in South Africa this week.<\/p>\n
The South African is ranked fourth on the continent and is 36 places ahead of the 225th ranked Fadilah in World Rankings.<\/p>\n
And all indicators pointed at another Scholtz win when the South African won the opening set 14-21.<\/p>\n
Fadilah however fought back to win the subsequent sets 21-14, 21-16 after 37 minutes and become the county\u2019s first champion at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided to play calm and decided to play the shots that I could and it worked for me. I didn\u2019t struggle much because I decided to think and play not to just play the shots anyhow and make the rallies but to place it and get points and it worked for me,\u201d Fadilah said of her victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victory helped me prove myself and show everyone that no matter your age you can still work hard and achieve anything and it gave me a big boost for the 2024 Olympics,\u201d the 18 year old said of her victory.<\/p>\n
The win also turned out to be sweet revenge for Shamilah who lost in straight sets to Scholtz 21-14, 21-10 in the semifinals of the Uganda International in 2021 to settle for bronze.<\/p>\n
The year 2021 also saw her become the best Ugandan performer at the All Africa Senior Championship the country hosted at Lugogo after winning bronze in the singles and doubles.<\/p>\n
There were also bronze medals for Brian Kasirye, in the men\u2019s singles, Husina Kobugabe in the women’s singles while Kobugabe and Janet Mbabazi won bronze in women\u2019s doubles.<\/p>\n
All African Badminton Championships<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s singles final<\/p>\n
Fadilah Shamika 14-21 21-14, 21-16 Johanita Scholtz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She announced herself on the continent in December last year when she won gold at the All Africa Junior Championships in Mauritius.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":26670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4],"tags":[7,14,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-26673","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-sports","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n