Following the conclusion of the two-day East Africa Interforces Judo Championship held at Old Kampala Arena in Kampala, Burundi emerged overall Champion, while host Uganda finished fourth.
The championship, which ran from 6-7 December 2025, saw Burundi, via its National Police, tally 11 medals, including 6 golds, 3 silvers, and 2 bronzes.
Kenya, through its Prisons force, finished second, winning 5 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes, totaling 10 medals, as Police Democratic Republic of Congo finished third with 2 golds, 1 silver, and 3 bronzes.
Uganda, represented by the Uganda Police Force, claimed one Gold courtesy of Zubeda Talikaza in the under 70kg category after beating Shamsa Hakizimana of Burundi National Police in the final.
Speaking on the championship, Police Constable Talikaza said, “For our status in this sport, I believe we have performed somewhat well. Finishing fourth is just a number, but we have yielded a lot from this championship.
We are leaving here not the same as when we came. We have played against players who are far better than us in the sport, and we have learnt very well what and how to improve.”
In total, Uganda Police Force won 8 medals overall, with 4 silvers and 3 bronzes in addition to the only gold medal, as they got ranked above SBL of Kenya, FDC of DR Congo, KPF of Kenya, and Uganda Prisons Services.
Speaking on Uganda Police Force performance, Assistant Inspector of Police Peter Malavu, who is serving as Chief Instructor and team manager, hailed the performance.
“Our performance has been impressive since the sport of Judo is still new in Uganda. Burundi and DR Congo are very far from our level, but our players have pulled off performances to finish fourth.
It is a good start as we are preparing for East African Police Forces Games, which will be held here in Uganda in 2027, and also in sports championships like we aim to create unity within East African Forces and we have succeeded in that.”
With the championship climax after smooth running, Uganda Judo Association Vice President Technical George William Ssekiwunga noted on the successful event;
“I believe that what we have done in this championship is quite good, despite some challenges. We hoped to have teams from all about nine countries of the East African Community, but some failed due to several inconveniences.”
“And another issue we faced was the shortage of funding since we only got one partner in the Intelligent Transport Monitoring System (ITMS) and other issues, but we have pulled off a successful event,” he concluded.
The Championship has had 7 competitions apiece, men’s and women’s, with 80 security officers from 8 forces representing countries like host Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, DR Congo, and Rwanda as Uganda Police Force won the hospitality award while Kenya Police Force won the most disciplined team of the championship.
