Kenya has completed it’s Uganda tour of the Airbadminton championships with a bronze medal at the just concluded 2026 Kampala International, Badminton World Federation (BWF) Future Series (Grade 3) event on Sunday, 27th September 2026, at the Lugogo Indoor Arena in Kampala.
Speaking after the award ceremony, Kenya’s head coach Brijesh Sonigra said that he is proud of Kenya’s achievement despite this global and also continental showdown event being the very first time that the country has sent it’s athletes for an Airbadminton competition.
” The Kampala International which is an indoor event started on 24th and ran up to 27th, today , but before we came here, we battled it out also in the beach Airbadminton in Entebbe and did well,” Sonigra said.
” The championship has showed us that Kenya has great potential, we just need to invest in infrastructure and our athletes will do well. Congratulations to my team and Kenyans for showing support,” Sonigra finalized.
On Sunday, Edwin Akwanyi and Edwin Waitathu finished third after losing to the pair Manav Choudhary and Shreya Tiwari from India 0-2 (10-21. 19-21) in the men’s doubles.
In the mixed doubles event, Kenya’s Erick Ngumo and Jacinta Sengera pushed Uganda’s top-seeded pair of Muzafaru Lubega and Gladys Mbabaz to the walls, but narrowly lost 1-2 (11-21. 21-19. 10-21).
The host nation therefore guaranteed itself at least a silver or a Gold medal as Muzarafu and Mbabazi advanced to the finals to compete against Malaysia’s tandem of Hafiz Hakimi Hashim and Lim Xuan.
The BWF Future Series (Grade 3) event had Competitors spanning across the globe from host nation Uganda, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Iran, Luxembourg, Myanmar, and the United States, who competed in the Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
But before that, Kenya begun it’s debut Airbadminton campaign with the Africa beach Airbadminton Championships at Aero Beach in Entebbe on Thursday 17th -19th September winning a Gold and a bronze medal and later competed in the Africa Region 5, an East Africa affair of the same version at the same venue on 20-22nd September and won a silver medal.
The contingent that was captained by Sammy Sikoyo and Jacinta Sengera travelled to Kampala for the indoor version of the game at Lugogo, the WBF Future series ( grade 3) , an international event full of global stars from top seeded countries with top seeded athletes, with only a day’s rest and recovery, and now have also managed a bronze medal in the men’s doubbles and mixed doubles events.
Badminton Kenya ( BK) via it’s president Peter Muchiri, has congratulated the men and women who did duty for the country while in Uganda for their bravado, calling them unsung heroes who have fought against all odds to put Kenya’s name on the continental and global maps of Badminton.
Sonigra who coached the team, assisted by John Mburu as team manager, both are now expected to guide their charges back home on Monday, landing at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi anytime from the PM hours.
