Kenyan men lose after drawing in first match on Thursday

Kenya national women’s hockey team registered their second consecutive win after thrashing rivals Uganda 6-0 in a tight Africa Cup of Nations Test match at Sikh Union Hockey Stadium in Parklands yesterday.

In the men's tie, Kenya lost 1-0 with Uganda’s Brian Ogodi scoring the only goal.

The first match on Thursday ended 1-1.

In the women games, Captain Gilly Okumu and Flavia Mutiva each scored a brace to inspire Kenya to their second win of the three Test matches set to be completed tomorrow.

The hosts dominated the opening two quarters to lead 5-0 at the breather before withstanding numerous Ugandan attacks in the third and fourth quarters, adding only one goal in the final quarter to win 6-0.

Despite the heavy loss, this was an improvement on the Ugandan side which conceded 11 goals in the opening match on Thursday.

Uganda have now conceded 17 goals in their last two matches, a result which will affect their rankings at the end of the week when the Africa Hockey Federation and the International Hockey Federation (FIH) update the nations rankings.

Kenya started on a high note yesterday with Okumu dribbling past four Ugandan defenders before sliding the cork past the keeper to give the host the lead in the fifth minute after receiving a neat assist from Chebet Eleanor.

Carol Guchu doubled the scores minutes later after being released by Mutiva who registered her fourth assist in the two Test matches played so far.

Ugandan worries worsened further when Kenya was awarded a penalty flick few minutes before the end of the first quarter after the cork hit a Ugandan defender who was behind her goalkeeper.

Mutiva, who turns out for local champions Blazers stepped up to stretch Kenya’s lead to 3-0 by the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Okumu turned provider after assisting Maureen Okumu to score Kenya’s fourth goal of the game from a short corner.

The captain would claim her brace and fourth of the two matches played to extend Kenya’s lead to 5-0 at the breather.

As it was in the first match, Uganda limited Kenya’s chances in the third quarter which ended goalless but with the hosts at a comfortable stage with a five goal lead.

The visitors proved a hard nut to crack again in the fourth quarter before Mutiva completed her brace from a well taken short corner to condemn the Ugandans to a second consecutive loss.

Kenya will play Uganda again today at 2pm in the final Test match.

The Test matches replaced the North-Eastern region qualifiers which were originally meant to be graced by six nations

Kenya qualified for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations Test matches set to be held in Ghana after five teams pulled out.