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Hockey teams’ chance to redeem dented image

By BRIAN WASUNA January 10th, 2014 1 min read

Kampala. The Africa Hockey Club Championship in Kampala is an opportunity for four Kenyan clubs participating in the tourney to redeem their image.

After the national team’s lukewarm performance during the Africa Cup of Nations in Nairobi last year, Telkom Orange, Strathmore Scorpions, Kenya Police and Nairobi Simba have chance to make it right.

The national women’s team that was tipped to win the Africa title and qualify for the World Cup was ejected by Ghana in their last pool game. On the other hand, the men were bundled out by South Africa.

No doubt, most fans have their money on Telkom and Police to do the country proud in Kampala.  Telkom has everything going for it, and their sponsors mobile phone service provider Orange gave the team a Sh4 million boost.

Police and Telkom have shown potential by flooring all their opponents in the league. Strathmore coach Meshack Senge is optimistic and is going for nothing short of a podium finish.

Standing in the way of the men will be Union Bank Sports Hockey Team (Nigeria), Sikh Union, Trustees Hockey Club, Golden Sticks (Ghana).

The women will face competition from Ghana Revenue Authority (Ghana), Heartland Flickers (Nigeria) and Tanzania’s Club Twende.

The tournament kicks off on Saturday at the Lugogo Grounds in Kampala.

With all the confidence shown by the Kenyan coaches and captains, the challenge for the teams is to bag the gold medals in both the men and women’s categories and cement their position as pacesetters in the region.