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Uganda: Bed-Ridden OKs Longs for Return
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The Weekly Observer (Kampala)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
John Vianney Nsimbe
As you enter ward 6C Mulago Hospital, there is a small blackboard hanging on the wall. On it are names of patients that are staying in that particular ward. Written in green chalk is the name of Wilbrod Oketcho a.k.a. OKs.
In one of the ward's rooms is the big power forward player who has played for basketball league titans Sadolin Power for the last 12 years.
Oks cuts a dejected figure in hospital. His left thigh, with white plaster from near the waist to near the knee-cap together with his left leg is raised with weights at the feet-end, keeping it in one position to enable the simple fracture join as it heals.
Simple he calls it, but deadly it could've been that night of March 12 when two armed robbers attacked OKs as he alighted from his car at his Najjera home.
"I thought they're my neighbours since I live in an estate, where people walk in and out freely," OKs said. "One had hidden the gun at his back. They asked me for my wallet and phone and I obliged.
"One then dragged me to the bonnet side of my car, pulled me down and then he ran off. It was then that I decided to run to my house only to be felled by an AK47 bullet from the other robber."
The bullet that tore through OKs' thigh left him bleeding profusely. It was his neighbours that came to the rescue, taking the forward to Kadic Clinic.
A mainstay in local basketball, OKs won the league with Power in 1996 and 2000. He's seen by many as the talisman of the double league champs. So, will his absence hurt Power's league chances?
Peter Mubanda, Oketcho's former coach said: "He's gifted for a big man but the only problem is that he gained a lot of weight recently and lost some speed. His value to the game is immeasurable and he's money in the bank for Power."
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Besides being 'money in the bank for Power', OKs also, says teammate Sam Sebadduka, "intimidated opponents." According to Steven Sengooba, when OKs is on fire, Power is also on fire. So, who will fill the void since OKs is likely to miss a huge chunk of the forthcoming season? "Luckily, Michael Kariuki and Isaac Afidra have joined and will fill the void," Power's Mark Enabu revealed.
As for OKs, he realises that there's more to life than basketball like his two and a half months old daughter. "I haven't stopped thinking of my wife and first daughter," he sighs. "What if I'd gone? They would all be empty."
No doubt Power will be close to empty with him not around.
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