After three failed attempts, Nairobi Region boys’ basketball champions Dagoretti High School are hoping to finally get it right at this year’s Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Term One games that begin on Tuesday in Eldoret.
Having endured the pain of playing second fiddle in the last two championships, Dagoretti are determined to break the jinx and seal their maiden national trophy. Inspired by the desire to shake off the second-best tag, the city boys will be going for the ultimate prize.
Exuding confidence, Dagoretti captain Eugene Jesse said he believes that this is the year, their hard work and dedication will come to fruition.
“We don’t want to go down in history as the team that was never good enough to lift the trophy and only settled for second best. We have been working very hard with the aim of winning this year’s title and I believe that our efforts will pay off,” Jesse said.
Dagoretti have been regulars at the national games since 2018 when they were knocked out at the group stage. They returned stronger in 2019 to reach the final but lost 52-69 to Laiser Hill. Though they never won the national title, the gods of basketball seemed to favour them that year as they excelled to finish second behind Uganda’s Buddo Secondary School at the East Africa games held in Arusha, Tanzania.
They were keen to extend their fairytale run but Covid-19 would slow down their momentum after the games were suspended. With no games in 2020 and 2021, they would once again rule Nairobi in 2022 after the games resumed to qualify for the national games where they once again lost in the final to debutants Dr Aggrey High School.
Dagoretti Coach Hassan Kibagendi says that his charges are determined to improve on last year’s performance.
“Winning the title is the only way we can show that we have improved from last year’s games. We have also finished second in the last two championships and we are not ready to settle for anything less than the top prize,” he said.
They are in Group A alongside Western champions Friends School Kamusinga, Lukenya School from Eastern and Central region’s Thika High.
“We are now focused on starting well and advancing to the knockout stage. Our pool is fair compared to Group B though it poses a threat should we advance to the semis,” Kibagendi added.
Group B has defending champions Dr Aggrey, former champions Laiser Hill, Nyanza region winners Onjiko who also had a good outing last year and Sabunley from North Eastern. Dagoretti will launch their campaign against Kamusinga on day one before taking on Thika High and Lukenya in their second and third pool matches respectively.
By Education News
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