A Henry Malinga (born 1979) is a Ugandan professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach who currently coaches the JKL Doplhins B.C of the Ugandan National Basketball League (NBL). He spent several seasons with the Warriors, where he was named the league's Most Valuable Player on two occasions. He is often nicknamed "The General".

Early life

Emmanuel Samanya, head coach of the Kyambogo Warriors, discovered Malinga in the early 1990s and taught him the basics of basketball.

International career

Malinga represents

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

in international competition. He will play for his country as they debut at the AfroBasket in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. Malinga was regarded as one of his team's most talented players coming into the event. He said, "As a local player, it’s a privilege and a great opportunity to be able participate in such a big competition. It is a dream come true for Uganda basketball."

Personal

Henry's brother, Eric, is a fellow professional basketball player and plays the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers. When on Of ...

position. The duo were considered premier Ugandan League players while they were both on the Warriors. Henry also often tries to emulate the game of

Hakeem Olajuwon Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon (; ; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian Americans, Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Ass ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malinga, Henry Living people 1979 births Centers (basketball) Ugandan men's basketball players