The 2026 Edition of the biggest badminton tournament on Uganda Badminton Association calendar climaxed on Sunday 22nd February at Lugogo Indoor Arena were foreign delegation dominated all categories.
Australia’s Karono Karono and Indian Anupama Upadhaya won the men’s and women’s singles titles, respectively, at the Uganda International Badminton Challenge, which concluded yesterday on Sunday.
The five days prestigious tournament has attracted players from fourty (40) countries, all competing to earn crucial points toward qualification for the USA Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games with India winning the overall trophy .
In the men’s
The men’s singles event title was claimed by Australia’s Karono Karono, who stopped Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-10, 17-21, 21-18 in a one-hour final at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium while India’s Anupama Upadhaya has beaten mansi Singh from India to clinch the women’s title at the Uganda International Badminton Challenge .
The Indian player displayed strong court awareness, clever movement, and powerful shots that Pangestu struggled to counter. “I am very happy to become a champion here in Uganda and accumulate more world ranking points,” Anupama Upadhaya told Rora Media.
India who secured three gold medals and one silver in 2025 has defended the seat this time with a better performance winning three gold medals in Men singles, men doubles and mixed doubles. They also won a silver medal.
Australia became the second winning one gold and one bronze medal while the USA who were the first runners up last had settled for this place with one gold medal.
The tournament remains a challenge for Uganda’s players and even this edition, they have failed to go past quarter final and this edition, Uganda’s seed one in women’s category and the 2026 All Africa Senior Badminton Challenge gold medalist, Shamika Fadilah failed to go past round of 16. Gladys Mbabazi stopped at a round of 32.
This marks the second Olympic qualifying event on the African continent this year, following the conclusion of the All Africa Senior Championships .
After the climax of the Uganda International Badminton Challenge, Uganda Junior International Tournament is coming up next and it is scheduled for 23rd to 25th February 2026 and will also be hosted at Lugogo Indoor Arena.
Uganda international badminton challenge Winners tally:
Mixed doubles
Gold: Ishaan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra (India)
Silver: Nithin H.V and Srinidhi Narayanan (India)
Bronze: Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu (Australia)| Koceila Mammeri and Tanina Violette Mammeri (Algeria)
Women Doubles
Gold medal: Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee (USA)
Silver Medal: Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi (India)
Bronze: Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam (India) | Martina Corsini and Emma Piccinin (Italy)
Men Doubles
Gold Medal: Bhargav Ram Arigela + Viswa Tej Gobburu (India )
Silver Medal: Pruthvi Krishnammurthy Roy + Sai Pratheek . K (India)
Bronze Medal: Eng Keat Wesley Koh + Junsuke Kubo (Singapore) | Donovan Willard Wee + Jia Hao Howin Wong (Singapore)
Women Singles
Gold Medal: Anupama Upadhaya (India)
Silver Medal: Mansi Singh (India)
Bronze Medal: Vennala Kalagotla (India) | Surya Charisma Tamiri (India)
Men singles
Gold Medal: Karono Karono (Australia)
Silver Medal: Misha Zilberman (Israel)
Bronze Medal: Lakshay Sharma | Saneeth Dayanand (India)
Absolutely fantastic result! It’s so inspiring to see these talented players competing and achieving such success.