Hockey: Kenya Police take control of title race

Kenya Police team leapfrogged leaders and reigning champions Butali Sugar Warriors at the top of the men's Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) table with two rounds of matches remaining to the end of the first leg.

Police recorded two crucial wins over the weekend at the City Park Stadium in Nairobi against Parkroad Badgers (4-2 )and Strathmore University Gladiators (2-1).

The wins propelled the law enforcers to top the standings with 19 points from eight matches, while unbeaten Butali have 17 points with a game in hand. Butali saw off hosts Mombasa Sports Club (MSC) 3-1 Sunday.

Last season's runners up Wazalendo squandered the chance to close in on Police and Butali when they played to a 1-1 draw with MSC away in Mombasa. Wazalendo occupy third place with 13 points from six matches.

Sailors, who shocked Strathmore 3-2 last Wednesday and were not in action over the weekend, are fourth with 11 points from six matches.

Strathmore have 11 points from seven matches and are placed fifth after the losses to Sailors and Police.

"It will be inevitable to complete the first leg on a winning note and on the top of the table. We have a tricky match against Sailors later this month and we are keen to bag the three points.
We will then figure out how the second leg will pan out," said Police coach Patrick Mugambi.

'The efforts are slowing paying off and we are aware that any slip up will be an advantage to our competitors. Our eyes are on the title we last won in 2017," he added.

MSC are pegged bottom with one point from seven matches, while Western Jaguars, who were not in action over the weekend, are second from bottom with four points from five matches.

MSC captain Mariano Emadau said they should not be written off just yet.

“We are not in a good place but we are keen to recover in the remaining matches and the second leg. The fact that we held Wazalendo to a 1-1 draw should say something. We are taking one match at a time and we are keen not to be relegated at the end of the season,” said Emadau.

The women’s Premier League table remains unchanged as all the matches due to the national women's team residential training at Kasarani for the Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham, United Kingdom next month.

Strathmore lead the standings unbeaten with 12 points from four matches, USIU-A Spartans and reigning champions Blazers are joint second with seven matches, but the students have a game in hand.

At the lower end, Sliders and Dutch Flower Group (DFG) Wolverines have two points from five matches.