By Erick Ochieng
Nairobi,kenya: Jacky Mwangi and Moses Cheplaiti proved outstanding as Telkom Orange and Kenya Police strove to retain the Vaisakhi hockey tournament played at City Park stadium at the weekend.
Mwangi was the sole scorer for Orange that successfully defended the women category with nine points.
Mwangi scored with the same 1-0 margin against Vikings, Strathmore University and Sliders to grant Orange the deserved victory.
Strathmore University emerged second with four points in the women round robin encounter.
Even though Orange head coach Jos Openda was glad he retained the title, he believes his team still has along way to go.
“We didn’t display our best in the tournament because we have not been training consistently. We shall resume our full daily routine once the rains have subsided,” said Openda, who is looking forward to defend the Africa club title later in the year.
“I was also using the Vaisakhi tournament to gauge all my players.”
Police edged arch-rivals Greensharks 1-0 in the finals to successfully defend the men’s title. Seasoned top scorer Cheplaiti smoked out Greensharks hope of winning the title with his solitary field goal in the finals.
On their way to the finals, Felix Okoth and Wokila Samuel scored a goal each against Nairobi Simba to grant Police a win in the semis as Greensharks thumped Kenya College of Accountancy University 4-0, with the help of Leon Magomere, Kevin Simiyu, Abdalla Felix and Sammy Namoyo.
Police were also able to win 2-0 against Strathmore University and also drew 1-1 with Karate Axiom and Parkroad.
The tournament winners were rewarded with Sh25,000 each while runners-up got Sh10,000. The two-day hockey festival, which will was also characterised by the Hindu Gatka dances, attracted 19 teams including those from Tanzania and Uganda.
There are 15 teams who have registered in the men’s category were Nairobi Simba, Kisumu Simba, Greensharks, Karate Axiom, Uganda Simba, Strathmore University, Wazalendo, Parkroad, Police, Kenya College of Accountancy University, Parkland Sports Club, Moshi Khalsa, Arusha Simba, Mombasa Simba and Technical University of Kenya.
