Mivumoni, Karabok out for surprises in Malindi

By Ernest Ndunda and Oscar PilipiliMivumoni and Karabok of Coast and Nyanza provinces will be making their debut at the Barclays Bank-sponsored national secondary schools’ ball games finals next month in Malindi.Interestingly, they clash in the boys’ football Group B opening match at Malindi High School. The games, involving football, volleyball and racquets, run from August 10 to 16.Other teams in the group are either Kamukunji or Lang’ata, who duel in the Nairobi final on Saturday, and North Eastern representatives.Mivumoni beat Tononoka, while Karabok hit Lambwe with identical 1-0 victories during provincial finals.Mivumoni coach, Peter Mayoyo, said yesterday his boys would play a tune-up match against Bandari, a Premier League side, on Wednesday next week at Mbaraki Sports Club.Friendly MatchesMasemise Tole of Tononoka and Joshua Ouko of Mivumoni during the Coast provincial secondary schools’ football final in Malindi. Mivumoni won 1-0. Photos: Govedi Asutsa"We will not play many friendly matches to avoid injuries ahead of the national games," said Mayoyo, who guided Mombasa High School to six national titles — 1992,1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2006."Karabok are the best boys’ football team in Nyanza Province and they must be good enough for any challenge at the national games," he said.Mayoyo said Coast Province has been a good hunting ground for home teams and hoped luck would continue to smile on them.So far, Coast, Nyanza and Western provinces have named their representatives for the Malindi games.Coast will be represented by Mivumoni and Shimbo in boys and girls’ football; and Shimba Hills and Bura in boys and girls’ volleyball.Nyanza has football Karabok (boys) and Sega (girls), Chianda (boys’ volleyball) and Ulanda (girls’ volleyball).Western has Kakamega, popularly known as Green Commandos, (boys’ football), Butere (girls’ football), Malava (boys’ volleyball) and Lugulu (girls’ volleyball).This year’s games have proved to be unpredictable with little known teams stealing the limelight.The implication is that a number of teams will be making their debut at the national level in Malindi.Mivumoni overcame the challenge of great names including the 2008 national runners-up, Waa, to qualify.There was also a revolution in Nyanza with new champions, Karabok and Sega, taking over.Previous boys’ winners, Thur-Gem, were disqualified for fielding ineligible players while Jera Girls were tossed out at the district level.Slight ChangesSlight changes were also witnessed in Western Province where Butere beat Archbishop Njenga to the girls’ trophy.Archibishop Njenga are the East African Games champions and the defeat means they will not travel to Fort Portal, Uganda, to defend the title next month.The trend of new champions taking over started with the Brookside term one games at Kangaru High in Embu.Here, St Mary’s Lwak of Nyanza stunned pundits when they overran big names including East Africa queens Kerugoya and St Cecilia Misikhu to clinch the girls’ hockey crown.Surprise winners in term two A games at Hill School Eldoret were Rift Valley’s Maraba who won the girls’ handball title.The competitive nature of the games has been attributed to the goodies introduced by sponsors.

Mivumoni, Karabok out for surprises in Malindi

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