National premier league teams will return to league action following their exploits at the concluded Kenya Universities Sports Federation (KUSF) at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) over the weekend.
The Division One basketball side, Zetech University who won the women’s basketball title after beating United States International University (USIU) 47-29 in the final will resume their league this weekend in search of promotion.
Head coach Maurice Obilo was unbeaten in the three-day championships to retain the title.
He said as defending champions, picked the second team to battle and defend the title that was successfully achieved.
“We had to choose a young Division two team as part of developing them and giving them confidence. This is their time to showcase their talent in the court,” said Obilo.
He added that their mission remains high as they seek to battle for the second tier league title.
“This is the best platform they have been given to develop their niche and defend the title. However, as much as we are ready to defend our title, we can also be prone to lose because each team is prepared to beat the champions,” he added.
The Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) league side Kenyatta University (KU) defeated their league side the University of Eldoret to win the KUSF title with 23-22 with Julius Chiunda capitalized on the foul on the outside box, throwing hard against the keeper after the final whistle.
Head coach Robert Osano said that after winning the title way back in 2021, they failed to retain their title due to examination back at school but the return has finally handed in fruits.
Lying in position 18th on the table, KU had to postpone their match against Ulinzi Warriors due to the university games.
“We are now heading to the league and we shall concentrate fully. This victory has given us another chance to improve because this is a big stage,” said Osano.
He added that the 18th position is due to less matches they have played as they plan to compete at the Federation of Africa Sports for Universalities (FASU) later in the year.
“We have two important events ahead of us starting with the premier league then FASU, which we must ensure that we get maximum points in the two events,” said Osano.
Daystar University, who also plays in the premier league edged out hosts 20-11. The Martin Kamau coached side is optimistic that they will be chasing for more points in the league.
“This is the first time we are winning this and since we are unbeaten, it is high time that we maintain that into the league. It has built our confidence. It is high time that we concentrate on the league. We have to concentrate fully and we have to push to the higher level,” said Kamau.
In other results, MMUST won volleyball titles for both men and women. In the women’s side were 3-1 winners against Kirinyaga University in 21-25, 25-14, 25-15 and 2-15 with coach Kevin Mulinya saying that the victory came after much preparations through training.
“We have been preparing this for many years and this is our maiden title. Last year, we managed to finish 4th and we went back to study our mistakes and now we are champions,” said Mulinya.
Enock Mokua, the Kisii head coach said that last year, they won silver after losing to Machakos at the finals, they had to restructure the team for victory.
“This is our first title and we want to ensure that we defend come next season. We had many tournaments across the region and that has paid us,” he said.
Selected results
- Netball
Men:
Final-KU 31-21 Kisii
Play-off Maseno 16-25 UOE
Women
Final: Kisii 44-42 MKU
Playoff: Machakos 26-32 KU
- Soccer
Men
Final: UON 1-3 KU
Playoffs: Kirinyaga 1-2 MMUST
Women
Final: MMUST 1-0 Kisii
Playoffs: MKU 1-5 Zetech
- Handball
Women
Final: MMUST 11-20 Daystar
Playoffs: Rongo 14-18 KU
Men
Final: UOE 22-23 KU
Playoffs: Kisii 21-14 Egerton
- Volleyball
Women
Final: Kirinyaga 1-3 MMUST (25-22, 25-17, 25-22 and 25-19)
Playoffs: UON 3-1 Maseno (21-25, 25-14, 25-15 and 25-15)
Men
Final: MMUST 3-1 Chuka (25-14, 22-25, 25-18 and 25-18)
Playoff: MKU 3-2 UON (18-25, 21-25, 27-25, 25-21 and 16-14)
- Hockey
Men
Play-offs: KU (3) 0-0 (o) Maseno
Final: MMUST 1-0 USIU
Women
Playoffs: Chuka 0-1 KU
Finals: MMUST (3)0-0 (0) UON
- Basketball
Basketball
Men
Playoffs: Kabarak 48-55 KU
Finals: Maseno 70-57 Zetech
Women
Play-offs: ANU 34-32 JKUAT
Final: USIU 29-47 Zetech