Double honour for Kenya’s basketball, handball military teams

By OSCAR PILIPILI and ERICK OCHIENG’

The Kenya Defence Force (KDF) men’s basketball team overwhelmed the Tanzania People Defence Force (TPDF) 71-51 to re-confirm their position as champions of this year’s East Africa Community Military Games at Moi International Sports Centre gymnasium on Thursday.

KDF entered the match already assured of a gold medal since they needed just one point, which they could have earned even from a defeat against Tanzania (bonus point), to be officially crowned kings of the event.

Kenya dominated the match as it led in all quarters at 12-11, 21-6, 20-10 and 18-24 for the tally of 71-51.

Geoffrey Batugi was best scorer for Tanzania at 13 while Dieter Okoth replied for Kenya with 18 points.

TPDF team manager Major Kevin Byabato said although they have exited the tournament winless, his players have gained valuable experience from it.

His Kenyan counterpart, Edward Kalume, said he would make some changes to his squad in readiness for next season.

“We started the tournament at a slow pace and as you can see this is the first match we have won with a convincing margin,” he said.

Kenya topped the contest with a maximum eight points after winning all its four matches of the event played on league format.

Burundi claimed silver on six points, same as bronze medallists Uganda. Rwanda was fourth on five points while Tanzania finished last with five points.

The final match between Kenya and Tanzania started slow before a handful of fans at the gymnasium.

A three-pointer off Mike Tanui handed Kenya a 3-0 lead and another attempt off Paul Olanya missed the target by inches when the ball rolled on the ring and dropped out.

FIRST POINT

Tanzania had its first point when Charle Stephene converted a free throw to bring the scores to 3-1 in favour of the hosts.

A steal from Tanzania’s Philbert Mwaipungu brought the scores level 3-0 in the third minute of the first quarter and a three-pointer from each team saw the scores level at 6-6.

Philbert converted yet another three-pointer to push Tanzania to an 11-8 advantage.

Kenya’s Moses Shida had a chance to add points, but he missed a double throw-in with Tanzania up 11-10. Kenya narrowly led 12-11 at the first quarter.

On resumption, Kenya improved on attacks and two baskets off number 10 free throws handed the hosts a 14-11 lead.

The home players were more active in the third quarter when they overwhelmed the visitors to take the points to 50-27 at the end of the third period, to the relief of the handful of fans at the gym.

It was a 25-point game in the fifth minute of the final quarter with Kenya leading 65-40, and the gap was maintained to the last whistle as the home side led 71-51.

In handball, KDF edged Uganda Defence Force (UDF) out 27-23 to successfully retain the title for the seventh year running.

Kenya also produced the game’s Most Valuable Player, Nicholas Ireri. The mid-morning finals were staged at the Nyayo Stadium.

Uganda’s Chester Oluorunga, who scored ten goals, emerged the top scorer with 43 goals while Tanzania’s Godfrey Abineli Kusena was named best goalkeeper.

Kenya won all the matches to finish top in the championships with a maximum 12 points, earning gold.

Uganda, who bagged the silver, won against Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi before falling to Kenya in the finals to gather nine points.

Tanzania had eight points and won bronze as Burundi ended the games in fourth place with six points. Rwanda had four points and finished at the bottom, having beaten no one.

Kenya’s coach, James Kinyua, said: “We knew Uganda were tough. So we studied them and denied them the balls. We also made sure we capitalised on their apparent weaknesses.”