Obiero lifts three medals

Kenya’s successful hunt for medals in these All Africa Games continued on Thursday with Mercy Obiero bagging three bronze medals in weight lifting event at the Onano Hall.

Obiero, who finished seventh in the 2012 London Olympics, came third behind Egyptian and Nigerian lifters in the 69kg category. She did 70kg in snatch and 100 in clean and jerk and a total of 170kg. She was third in all the three categories, hence the three bronze medals that added to the women’s doubles badminton bronze won on Wednesday.

At the Massamba Debat hall, Kenya’s women volleyball team B continued their upward ascendancy, beating Mozambique 3-1 (25-17, 25-14 25-15). They will play their last group match against Cape Verde on Saturday.

Their beach volleyball counterparts again lost the men’s match to Ghana. However the women’s team brought a smile back as they won their match against Sierra Leone inside the Kintele Complex.

The men pair lost 15-21, 17-21 while the women featuring Edna Rotich and Eunice Maiyo beat Sierra Leonians Francess Lansana and Zainab Kamara 21-15, 21-16. The men, comprising Ibrahim Oduor and James Mwaniki had lost to Tunisia 2-0 and will play DRC in their last match. The women now face Nigeria.

Just a stone’s throw away from the beach volleyball venue, women handballers got a baptism of fire from the African champions Angola who tore them 42-12 in the first match.

Even team manager Charles Jaji Omondi accepted the winners were too superior for their girls. They will play Nigeria today. The men were to begin their campaign against Angola late yesterday.

In boxing, Elly Ajowi has assured Kenya a boxing medal after pounding his way to the final of the heavyweight category.

Ajowi beat South Africa’s Akhani Puzi by majority decision at the Talangai Hall on Thursday.

The least he can win now is a bronze. Ajowi and light weight boxer Nick Okoth were to fight last evening.

In another fight, Samson Mulinge lost to Julius Mukhotho 2-1 in their light fly weight fight via RSC as the referee was forced to stop the bout while Namibian Mathias Hamuneles cut Peter Mungai’s ambitions.

Elsewhere, the table tennis team started badly, losing in identical scores of 3-0, 3-0 in men’s and women’s matches at the Revolution Wenje Hall.

They lost to home team, made up mainly of naturalised Chinese. The men players are Anthony Mathenge, Peter Theuri and Joseph Wandera while Sejal Modi, Dela Njani and Everlyne Nyanchoga are in the women’s team.

Meanwhile, Team Nigeria is gradually finding her rhythm at the on-going 11th All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville as the country on Thursday afternoon clinched her third gold medal at the games, adds Agency reports.

The latest gold medal for Nigeria is from cycling where the quartet of Glory Odiase, Gripa Tombrapa, Happiness Okafor and Rosemary Marcus came tops.

The resolute Nigerian ladies finished the 25km race in a time of 37.11 secs ahead of Team South Africa’s time who posted a time37.15 sec thus clinching the gold medal.