Kenya strikes gold at World Winter Olympics

By Erick Ochieng’

Kenya won gold in floor hockey at the just-concluded World Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The Special Olympics Kenya (SOK) floor hockey team defeated Algeria 2-0 to bag gold medal in the T7 Division finals yesterday. Earlier, the Kenyans had forced Algeria to a 2-2 draw in the event played in round robin format.

The semi-final was not a smooth ride for Kenya who had to tackle tough Turkmenistan who had edged them 5-6 in the preliminaries.

The two countries had played to a 2-2 draw before the semi-final match was forced into the extra time. A determined Kenyan side eventually sailed through to the finals with a 4-3 advantage after capitalising on Turkmenistan’s mistakes in the final minutes of the game.

Eight matches

Apart from Turkmenistan, only Korea’s Banbis managed to pin Kenya down, winning 4-2 in the event where Kenya played a total of eight games.

Other wins for Kenya in the preliminaries include 10-5 against Isle of Man, 5-1 against Japan, 4-0 against Korea’s Holt, 8-1 against Afghanistan and 10-0 against Spain.

“We are more than happy for winning gold, it really means a lot to us owing to the fact that floor hockey is a rare game in Kenya and we were participating in the global games for the first time,” SOK Country Director John Makathimo told FeverPitch on phone from Korea.

Makathimo said they were able to win gold as a result of the Sh7.7 million sponsorship the team got from the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, the corporate sectors and the media.

Worked on skills

“I am grateful to National Funds for the Disabled, Kenya Power Company, staff of International Finance Corporation,  philanthropist Solomon Muthamia, Prime Bank chairman Rasik Kantaria, Kenya Airways, Telkom Orange, National Olympic Committee-Kenya and Sports Stadia Management Board who all contributed in one way or the other to make this team comfortable both at home and in South Korea,” Makathimo said.

Head coach Susan Masila, said: “We worked on skills, conditioning and side games. Though it was our first time at the Games, we had faith that we would stage a good show which we just did, I am proud of my players who were committed and showed great level of discipline at the games.”

The team jets in this morning at 5.30am at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and will be hosted to a breakfast meeting at YMCA South C, Nairobi.