Edwin Ekiring

Edwin Ekiring (born 22 December 1986) is a Ugandan badminton player, nicknamed "The Black Pearl". 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 competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, 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.

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 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.

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. 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 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 Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2007 Salle OMS El Biar, Algiers, Algeria Eli Mambwe Bronze Bronze 2011 Escola Josina Machel, Maputo, Mozambique Jacob Maliekal 15–21, 14–21 Silver Silver 2015 Gymnase Étienne Mongha, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo Prakash Vijayanath 15–21, 20–22 Bronze Bronze

African Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2007 Stadium Badminton Rose Hill, Rose Hill, Mauritius Nabil Lasmari 12–21, 17–21 Bronze Bronze 2011 Salle Couverte Zerktouni, Marrakesh, Morocco Jinkam Ifraimu 19–21, 20–22 Bronze Bronze

BWF International Challenge/Series (7 titles, 7 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2006 Kenya International Richard Vaughan 16–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2008 Mauritius International Carlos Longo 21–15, 15–21, 21–8 Winner 2011 Botswana International Misha Zilberman 10–21, 21–16, 22–20 Winner 2011 South Africa International Pedro Martins 15–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2014 Nigeria International Arnaud Génin 11–4, 11–7, 4–11, 11–9 Winner 2014 Zambia International Alen Roj 21–18, 21–8 Winner 2014 South Africa International Luka Wraber 21–16, 17–21, 15–21 Runner-up 2015 Uganda International Jacob Maliekal 8–21, 21–18, 10–21 Runner-up 2015 Egypt International Alen Roj 20–22, 25–23, 21–18 Winner 2015 Morocco International Pedro Martins 14–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2016 Ivory Coast International Gideon Babalola 21–13, 12–21, 21–10 Winner 2017 Uganda International Julien Paul 19–21, 11–7 (retired) Runner-up

Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2006 Kenya International Abraham Wogute Himesh Patel Patrick Ruto 21–8, 21–15 Winner 2015 Uganda International Milan Ludík Pavel Florián Ondřej Kopřiva 11–7, 5–11, 11–10, 6–11, 8–11 Runner-up BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament BWF Future Series tournament