National boys’ hockey champions St Anthony’s Kitale launched their title defense on a high beating Meru School from Eastern 2-0 in their opening Group A match played at Hill School, Eldoret.
In another Group A clash, Maseno School and Nairobi School salvaged a point each after playing to a barren draw. Today’s victory puts St Anthony’s on top of the table and a victory in their second match against Nairobi School will secure them a place in the semi-finals. Linton Mayombe and Victor Sirengo were on target for St Anthony’s.
St Anthony’s coach Kelvin Lugalia said that the task ahead for his boys is still tough because they can only consider their mission accomplished after retaining the title.
“It is a good start but we still have a long way to go because our objective is to successfully defend our title and until we have done that, we remain cautious,” Lugalia said.
He added that their remaining pool matches will not be easy because they are playing sides that are usually very strong and are also determined to prove a point after returning to the national games. In Group B, Western region’s Musingu edged out St Charles Lwanga from Coast 1-0 to take the top spot on the table. This is after Kapsabet Boys and Mang’u High played to a 2-2 draw in the other tie.
In the girls’ contest, St Joseph’s Kitale Girls secured maximum points after their Nairobi opponents Hillcrest failed to show up for the game on time. Nyanza region champions Nyamira Girls were on a rampage routing St Charles Lwanga 5-0 in the second Pool A match.
In rugby 15s, Ofafa Jericho from Nairobi and All Saints Embu won their respective Group A matches after beating St Patrick’s Iten and Mang’u. Ofafa defeated St Patrick’s 19-11 while All Saints dismissed three-time Mang’u 22-6 respectively.
Ofafa trailed at the break courtesy of two penalty conversions from Maxwell Shighali, but James Ndura scored a try to reduce the deficit. Half-time pep talk worked wonders for Ofafa as they were stronger in the second half with tries from David Mukutano and Jeff Andigo, with Telvin Maina and Stephen Otieno adding the extras to complete the comeback and seal victory.
By Education News
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