Edwin Ekiring (born 22 December 1986) is a Ugandan

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player, nicknamed "The Black Pearl". He is tall and weighs .

Career

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, Ekiring competed in the men's singles as well as the mixed team event. In the singles he was defeated in the first round, 17–21, 17–21 by Sri Lankan Dinuka Karunaratne. In pool B of the mixed team event he won singles matches in fixtures against Jamaica and Kenya but lost matches to players from Australia and New Zealand. Playing with Abraham Wogute, he lost team doubles matches against Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand but beat the pair from Kenya as Uganda were eliminated from the competition at the pool stage. Ekiring then represented Uganda at the 2007 All-Africa Games and achieved bronze, the country's first medal in badminton in the history of the games. Ekiring competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China, after being given a wildcard into the men's singles by the Badminton World Federation. He was the first badminton player to represent

Uganda at the Olympics Uganda first participated at the Olympic Games in 1956, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for the boycotted 1976 Summer Olympics. Uganda has never competed at the Winter Olympic Games. Ugandan athle ...

. He received a bye into the second round of the competition before losing 5–21, 8–21 to Park Sung-hwan of South Korea. In 2009, Ekiring was involved in a serious road accident while cycling home from training in the Netherlands that left him with a fractured arm, ribs, ankle and right knee and doctors writing off his chances of ever playing sport again. The 28-year-old spiralled into a deep depression and feared he may never play badminton again but remarkably just eight months later he was back on court. At the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

, India, Ekiring reached the round of 16 in the men's singles event; he beat Sharafuddin Nasheeu of Maldives in the first round before losing two games to nil to Ashton Chen of Singapore. In the men's doubles he competed with Abraham Wogute; the Ugandan duo beat a team from Seychelles in the first round before being eliminated by a pair from Singapore in the round of 16. In 2012, Ekiring made it to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. He beat Chetan Anand 21–16, 21–12 in the round of 16 before losing to number one seed Takuma Ueda from Japan 13–21, 12–21. Ekiring was selected to compete for Uganda at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the men's singles after qualifying based on his world ranking. He did not make it past the group stages. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he reached the second round, where he was defeated by R. V. Gurusaidutt, the eventual bronze medal winner. He also took part in the men's doubles and mixed team events. He was one of the 14 players selected for the Road to Rio Program, a program that aimed to help African badminton players to compete at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. He competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Badminton experience

* 2-Olympic Games 2008 Beijing, China and 2012 London, United Kingdom * 2004–2008 Olympic Training Centre in Saarbrucken, Germany. * 2007–2008 Luxembourg * 2008–2009 Velo-Wateringen, The Hague, The Netherlands. * 2009–2012 BC Amersfoort, Amersfoort, the Netherlands, Eredivisie. * 2012–2013 Solingen, Germany, 2nd Bundesliga * 2013–2017 BC Amersfoort, Amersfoort, the Netherlands, Eredivisie.

Achievements

All-Africa Games

''Men's singles''

African Championships

''Men's singles''

BWF International Challenge/Series (7 titles, 7 runners-up)

''Men's singles'' ''Men's doubles'' : BWF International Challenge tournament : BWF International Series tournament : BWF Future Series tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekiring, Edwin 1983 births Living people People from Kampala District Ugandan male badminton players Badminton players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Badminton players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic badminton players for Uganda Badminton players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Badminton players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Uganda Competitors at the 2007 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2011 All-Africa Games Competitors at the 2015 African Games African Games silver medalists for Uganda African Games bronze medalists for Uganda African Games medalists in badminton Sportspeople from Central Region, Uganda