Kenya handball team to play Burundi in third playoff in Uganda

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Kenya’s men handball team failed to qualify to the finals of the International Handball Federation (IHF) Challenge Trophy Zone VB tournament following a 34-33 defeat against Uganda in the first semifinal fixture on Tuesday evening at Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda.

Kenya will now play Burundi in the third playoff on Wednesday evening. Burundi lost 21-47 to Rwanda in another semifinal. Uganda’s Ismael Kisalita emerged the top scorer of the match with 12 goals with his team mate Francis Ongom managing seven against his name.

Kevin Imo and Isaac Kololi scored ten and eight each as Kenya’s top scorers. Commenting after the match, Kenya’s coach Gerald Juma said it wasn’t a better performance for his charges who were shy in front of goal especially in the second half.

“We wasted a lot of chances especially in the second half. We had more than 15 opportunities that were not utilized but we will now prepare for the third place play off tomorrow,” he said.

Kenya will now face either Rwanda or Burundi in the third place play off today. Kenya went into this match after they topped Group A with four points ahead of Burundi who managed two points to book a date against Rwanda who topped Group B with four points.

Uganda finished second with two points. The hotly contested semifinal saw Kenya starting slowly allowing their opponents to take the lead by 2-1 in the first five minutes but reorganized to post a 5-4 lead by the tenth minute.

Kenya took a 13-10 lead at the quarter mark but they failed to convert chances in front of goal with their opponents converting their chances to narrow down the scores. With the good flow, the Ugandans sought their first technical time out trailing 12-13 but the break never helped as they missed a chance in front of goal.

Kenya continued with the attacks that saw them post a 17-14 lead into the breather. After the breather, Kenya continued from where they left scoring two more goals to make matters 19-14 but yet again relaxed to allow the Ugandans to narrow down the scores.

The hosts, Uganda seemed a better side in the second half converting their chances to narrow down the scores. Kenya sought their first technical time out leading 24-23 at the third quarter but yet again it was their opponents who rose to the occasion scoring three quick goals.

Uganda enjoyed the last five minutes of the match as they took complete control of the match with a lone score. In the 5-6th placement match for the men, South Sudan laboured to defeat Tanzania 25-23 to finish in the fifth.