A solitary goal from Ronald Miriti was enough for Eldoret Fc to successfully revenge against PASC Langa to lift the Cheza Dimba Tournament played yesterday at the Wareng High School in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
The captain fired in the winning goal in the 8th minute to seal a 1-0 victory against Langa to earn the bragging rights in the final match to earn a 3-year sponsorship worth Kshs 250,000 annually.
On a fully packed final, fans awed at the impressive defensive skills displayed by Eldoret FC, blocking off any goal-scoring attempts by their opponents in the thriller that promised to be a gripping duel right from the start.
Eldoret FC had earlier in the semi final pulled off an unexpected win over local counterparts, Eldoret Warriors FC, in an intriguing rivalry where they eliminated the Warriors 2-0.
James Manyala and Isaac Walela in the first and second half respectively spearheaded the surprise win.
In their semifinal match against Kitale Phantoms, PASC Langa, were saved by a penalty kick that was converted by Cyrus Bosire in the 39th minute giving them a slot in the final.
Miriti acknowledged the Tujiamini Initiative, noting that it presented a flourishing opportunity for young talent in the grassroots.
“Our target is to get to the Football Kenya Federation Premier League and since most of us are from underprivileged backgrounds the rewards accompanying the win is a motivation for us to perform even better moving forward as we continue to inspire those around us.”
On the other hand, despite being down PASC Langa made it clear that they were not out, “A loss of concentration in the final affected the outcome of the game considering how well we played earlier in the tournament. We got back on track in the second half but we missed a goal lowering our chances of winning the final,” said team captain Kevin Kang’ethe.
Three counties down, the Tujiamini initiative has intensified efforts towards impacting sports and related talents at the grassroots. SportPesa Partnerships Manager, Willis Ojwang, lauded the quality of footballing talent in the North Rift region.
“We have seen a manifestation of really good potential and seeing as some of the players live off the sport, the initiative couldn’t have come at a better time.”
The Tujiamini initiative by SportPesa now shifts gears to the Western region as it nears the halfway mark with assurance of even more exciting sporting action and display of talent