Kisumu Day, Sinyolo Girls defend titles in Nyanza region games

Part of the action during the girl's hockey final match between Sinyolo Girls and Nyamira Girls in the Nyanza Regional Term One Games. Sinyolo won 1-0 to defend the title. PHOTO | VICTOR OTIENO |

What you need to know:

  • The five-day long championship were jointly held at Sawagongo and St Mary's Yala in Siaya County.

East Africa boys hockey champions Kisumu Day defended their Nyanza title as curtains came down on the region's Term One Secondary School Games on Saturday.

Their girls counterpart Sinyolo - who are also the 2016 national champions - were also not left out in defending their title in the competition.

The five-day long championships were jointly held at Sawagongo and St Mary's Yala in Siaya County.

In hockey boys, the final was an all-Kisumu County affair which was also a repeat of the 2017 contest between arch-rivals Kisumu Day and Kisumu Boys.

JUMA THE HERO

The defending champions, coached by Booker Agutu, edged out their bitter rivals 1-0 courtesy of Emmanuel Juma's last-gasp goal.

The win means Kisumu Day will represent the region in the national school games that will be held in Embu next month.

"Now that we have qualified for the nationals, we want to work hard to win the crown. We want to snatch the title from St Antony's," said Booker.

Rapogi Boys emerged third after edging out Maranda School 2-1 in the play-offs.

In the girls' category, the East African and national champions Sinyolo ended Nyamira Girls' hopes of featuring at the national games as they beat them 1-0.

Similar to boys' category, the final between Sinyolo and Nyamira was a repeat of last year's contest in which Sinyolo triumphed 2-0. The two teams have faced-off in the Nyanza region's final for the last six years.

DOMINANT SINYOLO

As expected, Sinyolo dominated the proceedings but failed to convert the chances that came their way.

They had to wait until the start of the third quarter to take a lead through Maureen Owiti. The goal rejuvenated the Alloise Owino-coached side as they pinned their opponents in their half in the remaining time.

In basketball, Ambira and little-known Barchando are the new champions in the boys and girls' categories respectively.

The win gives Ambira a ticket to the nationals where they last featured in 2014.

But they were forced to rally from behind to beat Agoro Sare 53-47, as they trailed in the first two quarters 10-13 and 11-12 respectively, before bouncing back in the third and fourth quarters with a 17-12 and 15-10 score.

KISUMU BOYS SHOCKED

Defending basketball champions Kisumu Boys suffered a major setback to their title defence after they were eliminated at group stage. The same fate befell girls' title holders Nyamira who were eliminated at county level.

Barchando smashed Ngiya Girls 61-33 in the girls' final.

Meanwhile in handball, Kanyawanga and Sega comfortably retained the boys and girls crowns respectively.

Red-hot Kanyawanga trounced Maseno 31-19 to qualify for the national games while Sega Girls beat Msare 33-17.