Edwin Ekiring

Edwin Ekiring
File:Edwin Ekiring.JPG
Personal information
Country	Uganda
Born	(1983-12-22) 22 December 1983 Uganda
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	65 kilograms (143 lb)
Years active	2006–
Medal record Men's Badminton Representing Uganda All-African Games 2011 Maputo Singles 2007 Algiers Singles 2015 Brazzaville Singles

Edwin Ekiring (born 22 December 1983) is a Ugandan badminton player, nicknamed "The Black Pearl". He is 1.83 metres (6 ft 0 in) tall and weighs 65 kilograms (143 lb).

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 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.