The Ugandan Women’s 3×3 basketball team, the Gazelles, made a perfect start to their historic debut campaign at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. They dominated on day one, storming to three consecutive Pool A victories.

Coming into the tournament, Uganda was one of the highly ranked teams and they were second just behind Australia in Pool A. Despite being debutants at the tournament, Uganda was expected to take care of business on day one and they managed to get the job done.

In their opening game, Uganda defeated Jamaica 18-17 in a game that was decided in overtime. The Gazelles trailed 1-4 early in the game but they managed to recover and take a 5-4 lead after Peru Nyamwenge and Jamila Nansinkombi buried each buried a 2-pout shot.

From their onwards, Uganda was in the lead but they never quite pulled away. In the final 20 seconds of the game, Jamaica hit a big shot to level the game and send it into overtime.

Jamaica got the first point in overtime but a few moments later, Jane Asinde went to the free throw line with a chance to secure the win for Uganda. However, she missed one of the 2 free throws but Jamila Nansikombi later won the game for Uganda, also, from the free throw line.

In their second game, Uganda managed to finish off the Cayman Islands in 7 minutes. It was a dominant performance that ended 21-7 with Uganda registering a staggering efficiency, 16/19 of their 1-point shot attempts. Melissa Akullu finished with 10 points and she scored on all her attempts.

Finally, Uganda made light work of their East Africa neighbors, Kenya, with a dominant 21-5 victory. Once again, the scoring efficiency was high as they made 16 of their 18 1-point shot attempts. This time around, Jane Asinde was the menace as she made 10 points with 8 of 10 1-point shots made.

What Lies ahead

For Uganda, this is the start that they wanted and it puts them in comfortable spot to make it past the pool stage. They will face Fiji next in a game that they should win and they will close the pool phase with a duel against Australia to determine who advances straight to the semifinals.

If Uganda finish second or third in the pool, they will have to play in the semifinal qualifier in order to make it to the final 4. For, the optimism of Uganda making a podium finish is very high. The Gazelles return to action on Sunday 26th.