Tiny Claire Tabingwa was named the women’s most valuable player after guiding her side, Prisons Handball Club, to finish second in the 43rd edition of the East and Central Handball Championship on both the play and the club’s debut.
Speaking on the success, Tabingwa stated, “I thank God that we have managed to reach this far because many teams on their debuts would have stopped in groups, and for me, it has been hard work, big pushing from my coaches and fellows, but again, God takes all the praise to help a player of my size win against big players. It is a big start, and I believe I can bank on this beginning in the future.”
Tabingwa saw her side falling to Nairobi Water 24-33 in the final played on Thursday, January 1, 2026, at Old Kampala Indoor Arena.
Throughout the championship, Tabingwa, with catchy displays, scored 29 goals in four games, the best return percentage among all female players.
On her announcement as the Most Valuable Player of the Women’s Championship, Tabingwa got a big applause from the entire turnout at the final, including fellow players from all the teams in agreement with the announcement.
In the Men’s Championship, Rwanda National Police won the 5th trophy of the championship after beating NCPB from Kenya by 34-28 goals in the final which climaxed the event on Thursday.
Following the conclusion of the championship, which had 6 teams per gender, Uganda Handball Federation Vice President Technical Willy Mayanja highlighted the gains from hosting the championship.
Hosting this has come with opportunities, but building match technical knowledge, as we have managed to train 15 technical personnel. Our players have learnt from other big teams in this game, and on top of that, when you host a big event like this, it gives bigger visibility to have many people getting to know and understand the sport.
The legendary Handball administrator also called upon the Uganda Handball fraternity to widen community engagement and raise their preparations for the championship.
“I call upon our clubs and Handball fraternity to get more engagements with the community by speaking up about everything happening in the sport, but also to continue improving on performances. At this point, our clubs have had a good performance, but again, we need to do better, so it is good to improve on preparations because you can’t win any championship like this without proper preparations.”
Championship Awards.
Women
- Winner: Nairobi Waters (Kenya)
- Runners-up: Prisons HC (Uganda)
- Second Runners-up: NCPB (Kenya)
- MVP: Claire Tabingwa (Prisons HC)
- Top Scorer: Martha Lavender (Nairobi Water)
- Best Goalkeeper: Lona Masika (Nairobi Waters)
Men
- Winners: Rwanda National Police (Rwanda)
- Runners-Up: NCPB (Kenya)
- Second Runners-Up: UPDF HC (Uganda)
- MVP: Emmanuel Kubwimana (Rwanda National Police)
- Top Scorer: Samuel Marutangwe Rwanda National Police)
- Best Goalkeeper: Ian Odiambo. (NCPB)
