Lakers and Jaguars are Mulembe Hockey champs

Western Jaguars' Conrad Wafula (l) and Parkroad Cyrus Kanyi in action. [Jenipher Wachie, Standard]

Lakers and Western Jaguars have been crowned this years’ Mulembe Hockey Tournament Champions. The tournament which took place at Eregi Teachers Training College in Kakamega on Sunday was the finals that saw both the men and women dominated by the two teams.

The 2010 Kenya Hockey Union Premier League runners-up, Wazalendo went down to Home team Western Jaguars 2-1 in the men’s category to lift the title.

Danstone Baraza who plays for the Wazalendo scored the consolation goal with Conrad Kafwafwa shooting for the winners.

Kenya Police, the 2021 Jamhuri Hockey tournament champions, settled for bronze after beating UON men 1-0 in a third-place playoff.

Alice Owiti's only goal was what Lakers wanted to claim the women’s crown during a match against the University of Nairobi (UON). Post-match shoot-out separated Nyamira girls school with Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology for the third slot.

The men team winners, Western Jaguar pocketed Ksh.100,000 while the women's title winners Lakers bagged Sh70,000 with all the top three teams from each category walking away with a trophy.

Hosts Eregi TTC men were eliminated during the preliminaries after losing all their group matches in Pool A.

The Mulembe Hockey Tournament was organized courtesy of Kakamega County Hockey Association in conjunction with Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) with the aim of helping teams prepare for the upcoming Hockey Leagues, the Premier League, Super League and National League) which are set to resume action in the month of February.

The two-day event attracted 20 teams, comprising 12 male and eight female sides divided into pools with a knockout match for each team.