The 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is 943 days away and whereas it seems to be far, preparations have already started.

The path to the tournament has been set and one team, the hosts, USA, have already secured their slots in both the men and the women.

Eleven other slots are up for grabs but as Ugandans, there is reason to be happy and optimistic about our chances of making it to the tournament.

The first tickets of qualification will be awarded to the top ranked National Federations in the different regions as of 1st December, 2027.

This is important for Uganda because, in the ladies category, we have been doing extremely well.

Coming into the 2025 FIBA 3×3 Africa Cup, the 3×3 Gazelles were the number one ranked country in Africa.

Despite posting poor performances at the event (winning none of the four games), Uganda is still ranked second in Africa.

If FUBA is very intentional on making sure the players participate in multiple events and the players perform well, Uganda has a chance of being at the Olympics.

How Rankings work

The FIBA 3×3 Federation Ranking is calculated based on ranking points of each national federation. Federation ranking points are the sum of the ranking points of their top 20 nationals with a confirmed play.fiba3x3.com account (also known as FIBA 3×3 profile) in the respective category; U13 players are excluded from the calculation.

In case of tie in federation ranking points, the tied federations will be forced ranked based on each federation’s highest ranked player in the corresponding category.

The FIBA 3×3 Individual World Ranking of each player is calculated based on points collected considering only the results of select FIBA endorsed events.

The number of points earned at a competition will depend on; its level and players’ performance, final Standings, win Before Limit, and Individual Performance: each player’s scoring and key individual stats.

What does FUBA need to do?

The clock has already started ticking and strategies need to be developed in order for Uganda to be on top of the ranking by 1st December 2027.

One thing has already gone wrong but there is enough time to recover.

At the 2025 3×3 Africa Cup, the top ranked players for Uganda, Shillah Lamunu, Martina Anyango, Sylvia Nakituuka, Priscilla Nambogo all missed out.

They missed out on collecting valuable ranking points which would have kept Uganda on top of the rankings but that is okay.

The most important thing for Uganda is that there is a lot of time between now and 1st December 2027 to strategize and make sure that Uganda is on top.

First and foremost, our top ranked players have to participate in the multiple top competitions.

One of the things that helped Uganda go to the top is the fact that we won 4 of the 6 stops at the Youth Nations League.

In that tournament alone, Shillah Lamunu collected 43,258 points. The others also had very many points and this helped Uganda in the rankings.

At the U23 3×3 World Cup, Uganda did not perform very well and the ranking points garnered were little.

However, Uganda participated at 3 stops in this Women’s series and this also helped a lot.

In the first 2 stops, Uganda did not win any game but in the third, they managed to win a game, advanced to the quarter finals and reaped big (ranking) points.

What Uganda needs right now is the teams, players and Federation to be intentional.

If we can identify about 10 players and focus on about 5 or 6 to help the Nation in 3×3, it will be easy.

The good is, Shillah Lamunu, Martina Anyango, Sylvia Nakiituka, Mary Nambogo, and Tracy Namugosa are already established and have played at big stages.

If Uganda can focus on these and maybe another 1 or 2, and send them into the top tournaments, this can help fuel the olympics dream.

The biggest event that the ladies can play at is the Womens series. In 2025, Uganda played at only 3 circuits and did not do very well.

However, with the experience that the players have gathered, there is a chance that they can get to perform better in 2026 and 2027.

It is very important to have representation at these events and if we can play in about 5 stops, in each year, there is no doubt that our rankings will go up.

Also, Uganda need to dominate at the next 2 editions of the Youth Nations League. If we can win all the games in the 6 stops each year, we will have put a good gap between us and the chasing pack.

The other thing is the Africa Cup. The 2026 edition will be very important and Uganda has to make sure that they perform very well.

The target should be winning the tournament and worst case scenario, making the final.

If we win the Africa Cup, we qualify for the World Cup which is another opportunity for Uganda to increase their rankings.

If we don’t but finish high, there is a chance that we are on top of the rankings (in Africa) and advance to the World Cup qualifying tournament.

That is also a premier tournament and if you perform well, you get an opportunity to go to the World Cup.

Something the players should note is, everything counts. Every basket, every game and every tournament will be key. Finishing the games before the 10 minutes will be so important and scoring as many points as possible.

This helps in a way that, even if your teams loses, as long as you scored a lot of points, there is  chance that you are better than the others teams which lost and that means that you finish higher which gives you more ranking points.

Between now and December 1^st 2027, the Federation has to do all it takes to make sure that Uganda (ladies) are top of the rankings (Africa) and earn a slot to the Olympics, LA 28.