Western Deaf football club win 2019 national crown

Western region deaf football team (in Blue) vs Lake region from Nyanza during National deaf football championship finals at Moi Stadium Kisumu on April 26th 2019. (Collins Oduor, Standard)

Western Deaf football club are the 2019 national deaf football champions.

The Kakamega-based team defeated hosts Lake of Nyanza 4-2 in penalties at Moi Stadium yesterday to snatch the crown from Central.

The thrilling match went into penalties after the two sides settled for a 3-3 draw after the regular 90 minutes.

Bob Martino scored a brace and Philip Kirui added the third one for Western as Kevin Okoth and Kennedy Kiptoo were on target for Lake.

Speaking after the win, Western Region head coach James Wikonza said he was happy with the performance of his boys, praising their goalkeeper for a stellar performance.

“We played well since day one and am happy the boys responded well even after falling 2-1 behind after the break. Congratulations to the goalkeeper for stopping two penalties that earned us the win,” Wikonza said.

Deaf football Association of Kenya chairman Stephen Waweru congratulated the winning team and said they will select a good team to represent Kenya in the 2019 African Deaf Football games in November.

“We will pick a strong team to go to Nigeria in November for the African games, and I am happy to say this was a success despite financial challenges,” he said.