East Africa Secondary Schools games: Kamusinga and St Anthony's teach Ugandans hockey lessons in Arusha

Koyonzo rugby players during their training session at Nakuru High school ahead of the East Africa secondary school games to be held in Arusha Tanzania on September 14,2022.[Kipsang Joseph,Standard]

Regional champions Friends School Kamusinga and St Anthony's Boys Kitale thrashed their Ugandan opponents to make their intentions to extent Kenya's hockey dominance known as the Federation of East Africa Secondary Schools Sports Association games entered day four in Arusha, Tanzania yesterday.

Mbarara High School were on the receiving end as Kamusinga bounced back from a 2-1 loss to Kakungulu Memorial to thrash them 8-0 and revive their hopes of defending their title.

Determined not to go down to another Ugandan side, Arnold Vincent opened the scores nine minutes into the game.

Innocent Songiro added a second three minutes later with captain Mike Oruta who was the undisputed star of the match making it 3-0 seconds to the end of the first quarter.

Keen to chalk a convincing victory, Oruta added his second goal in the 18th minute with Roy Ipapo making it 5-0 four minutes later.

Mbarara would resort to defensive play for the remaining part of the second quarter as the Kenyans continued to torment them.

Oruta completed his hat-trick seconds into the third quarter. Songiro and Erick Kimuru completed the job for Kamusinga in the 33rd and 54th minutes.

Oruta said that they are not ready to go down without a proper fight.

Action between Kenya's St Anthony's and Uganda Ntare at the East Africa schoolgames in Arusha. [Courtesy]

"It's not over until the last match is played. We might have had a slow start but we are determined to give our best in the remaining matches because we still have a chance to secure a podium finish," Oruta said.

In another tie, national champions St Anthony's who are keen to reclaim the title they lost to Kamusinga in 2019 routed Ntare Secondary School also from Uganda to maintain their unbeaten run.

Linton Mayombe bagged a brace while Norman Lidiga and captain Fred Ouma scored one goal each for the six time East Africa champions.

Ouma who was voted Most Valuable Player at the national games held in Nakuru said his main objective is to rally his side to victory and secure a seventh regional title for the school.

"My desire is to sign off in style, this is the only chance I have to play for my school because of the Covid-19 break and so I must make the best out of it," Ouma said.

St Anthony's will today face off with Kakungulu Memorial while Kamusinga will take on homeboys Arusha Meru International School.

In the girls contest, former East Africa champions Trans Nzoia Mixed edged rivals St Mary's Tachasis 1-0 in their opening clash.

Esther Kadenyi scored Trans Nzoia's all-important goal in the 11th minute. In the other girls tie, defending champions Kakungulu Memorial hammered St Mary's Namagunga 8-0 in an all-Ugandan affair. In rugby 7s, the Kenyan boys will have to work harder in their remaining matches so as to defend the title that Upper Hill won in 2019.

Hospital hill (in green) in action against Kimito from rift valley in the boys handball finals during the National Secondary school games at Nakuru High school on September 12,2022.[Kipsang Joseph,Standard]

National champions Koyonzo are currently second on the log behind Uganda's Hannah International School. Hannah lead with with nine points same as Koyonzo while Kenya's Butula is third with six points.

Koyonzo registered Mixed results against Ugandan sides going down 15-19 to Hannah before beating Jinja Secondary School 10-7. Butula on the other hand beat Elerai of Tanzania 26-5 and Ntare 25-7.

In volleyball, East Africa giants Kwanzanthe sealed their place in the semi-finals after dismissing Hilton High School Mukono from Uganda in straight sets of 25-19, 25-16 and 25-18. Kwanthanze are hoping to win a a fourth title in a row.

Action between Kenya's Trans Nzoia and St Mary's Tachasis also of Kenya at the East Africa schoolgames in Arusha. [Courtesy]

In handball, boys national finalists Hospital Hill advanced to the last four after beating Kilombero of Tanzania 22-17 in their last Group A match.

However, it was end of the road for national champions St Albert Kamito who bid the championship bye despite winning their last Group B match 33-18 against Maweni also of Tanzania.