Hockey: Butali team manager says title race wide open

Butali Sugar Warriors team manager Victor Opere says the Kenya Hockey Union men's Premier League title race is wide open.

Unbeaten Butali on Sunday routed Sailors 2-1 to leapfrog Kenya Police on the top of the standings with 20 points, one ahead of Police who were not in action.

Butali and Police have played eight matches each in the 10-league team.

“This season is competitive. As much as we remain unbeaten with one match remaining to the end of the first leg, we are not leaving anything to chance. We are not comfortable neither are we under pressure, but we just want to win our matches as every match is important to us,” said the official.

Strathmore University won against Wazalendo 4-1 to move third on the standings with 13 points from eight matches.

Strathmore coach Meshack Senge welcomed the development saying it’s not over yet.

“This is an interesting season and I’m loving the way everything is panning out. We can’t really tell who got this. It might go to the wire ," said Senge.

Wazalendo were relegated to fourth position with 13 points, same as Strathmore, but the students have a superior goal difference and have played more games.

Sailors complete the top five with 11 points from seven matches. Sailors coach Timothy Kamar said so far so good.

“I think I will be asking too much from my players but we just want to keep up the momentum. It feels good to be among the title contenders,” said Kamar.

At the lower end, Parkroad Badgers are second from bottom with sixth points from eight matches, while Mombasa Sport Club (MSC) are rooted bottom with one point from nine matches.

MSC were humiliated 7-0 by Western Jaguars on Saturday. The women’s Premier League standings remain unchanged with their matches have been shelved as most players are in residential training at Kasarani ahead of next month's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.

Strathmore led the standings unbeaten with 12 points from four matches, United States International University Africa are second with seven points from three matches, while record champions Blazers are third with seven points from four matches.

In the men’s Super League, Sikh Union and Kenya College Accountancy remain favorites to earn promotion to the top tier.

Sikh have 28 points from 11 matches, while the students have 24 points from 10 matches.

In the women’s Super League, Kenyatta University lead the standings with 16 points from six matches, while MSC are second with nine points from four matches.

At the end of season, the two teams from the Super League in both genders are promoted to the top tier, while the two bottom placed in the Premier League in both genders are relegated to the second tier.