By OSCAR PILIPILI
Lira, Uganda: Kwanthanze and Malava volleyball teams did Kenya proud after they won respective final matches on the last day of Brookside East African Secondary School Championships here in Lira, Uganda.
Kwanthanze, who are Kenya champions, were forced to use every trick in the book to beat stubborn Groupe Scolari Indangaburezi (GSI) 3-2 (25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12) in a tight match at Lango College on Sunday.
The match was an acid test for Kwanthanze considering that GSI had beaten both Lugulu and AIC Kosirai in previous matches.
Kwanthanze played well to claim the first two sets and the skillful GSI players gained composure to take the next two sets and push the match into a tie-breaker.
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The result confirms the improvement from Kwanthanze, who finished fifth overall in the competition last year. Kwanthanze outgoing captain Faith Kimongo said she was happy to have helped her team win the trophy.
“We’re national and East African champions and that is a major achievement for our school,” she exclaimed.
Play-off match
Kosirai who was making their first appearance at this level defeated Lugulu 3-1 (25-18, 25-12, 16-25, 25-21) in play off to claim bronze.
In boys’ category, Malava beat hosts St Mary’s Kitende in straight 3-0 sets of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-16 to bag gold.
Hospital Hill beat St Joseph’s of Rwanda 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 19-25, 25-13) in play-off to claim bronze.
In handball girls, Moi High Kamusinga won Kenya gold for the first time in five years after they beat Gombe of Uganda 26-14 in a final match that was hotly contested.
Handball is one of the disciplines that have been dominated by Ugandans in the annual championships.
Break jinx
Kamusinga coach Godfrey Simiyu said: “I’m very happy that Kenyans have finally broken the jinx and dislodged Uganda and hope we’ll perform even better next year.”
Tears of joy flowed freely as Kamusinga players sang the national anthem to honour their historic victory.
In basketball, Upper Hill and Shimba Hills did Kenya proud after they topped respective categories to bag gold. Shimba Hills defeated St Mary’s Kitende 87-47 in girls’ final to regain the trophy they lost in 2011.
Taudencia Katumbi was the highest scorer for Shimba Hill with 40 points while other contributors were Linet Juma (20) and Felmas Adhiambo (18).
Katumbi and Juma came to the tournament after a training stint at NBA club Philadelphia 76ers in the US.
Katumbi said: “I’m happy that we’ve won back the trophy and the success can be attributed to the high level training we enjoyed at Philadelphia ahead of the Championships.”
Upper Hill won its first ever gold at the championships following 87-47 victory against Lubiri of Rwanda in the final. However, Buru Buru girls’ campaign to claim bronze failed to materialise after they lost 63-49 in play-off.
