Edwin Ekiring


Edwin Ekiring is a Ugandan badminton player, nicknamed "The Black Pearl". He is tall and weighs.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, 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, China, after being given a wildcard into the men's singles by the International Badminton Federation. He was the first badminton player to represent Uganda at the Olympics. 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, Edwin 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 in Delhi, 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 Yong Zhao 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 OCBC US 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.
He competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Badminton experience

All-Africa Games

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2015Gymnase Γ‰tienne Mongha, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo Prakash Vijayanath15–21, 20–22 Bronze
2011Escola Josina Machel, Maputo, Mozambique Jacob Maliekal15–21, 14–21 Silver
2007Salle OMS El Biar, Algiers, Algeria Eli Mambwe Bronze

African Championships

Men's singles
YearVenueOpponentScoreResult
2011Marrakesh, Morocco Jinkam Ifraimu19–21, 20–22 Bronze
2007Rose Hill, Mauritius Nabil Lasmari12–21, 17–21 Bronze

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

Men's singles
YearTournamentOpponent in finalScoreResult
2017Uganda International Georges Julien Paul19–21, 11–7 Runner-up
2016Ivory Coast International Gideon Babalola21–13, 12–21, 21–10 Winner
2015Morocco International Pedro Martins14–21, 12–21 Runner-up
2015Egypt International Alen Roj20–22, 25–23, 21–18 Winner
2015Uganda International Jacob Maliekal8–21, 21–18, 10–21 Runner-up
2014South Africa International Luka Wraber21–16, 17–21, 15–21 Runner-up
2014Zambia International Alen Roj21–18, 21–8 Winner
2014Nigeria International Arnaud Genin11–4, 11–7, 4–11, 11–9 Winner
2011South Africa International Pedro Martins15–21, 18–21 Runner-up
2011Botswana International Misha Zilberman10–21, 21–16, 22–20 Winner
2008Mauritius International Carlos Longo21–15, 15–21, 21–8 Winner
2006Kenya International Richard Vaughan16–21, 17–21 Runner-up

Men's doubles
YearTournamentPartnerOpponentScoreResult
2015Uganda International Milan Liduk Pavel Florian
Ondrej Kopriva		11–7, 5–11, 11–10, 6–11, 8–11 Runner-up
2006Kenya International Abraham Wogute Himesh Patel
Patrick Ruto		21–8, 21–15 Winner