Superb Butali seal fourth straight hockey title

Butali Sugar Warriors are the 2022 Kenya Hockey Union men’s Premier League champions for the fourth time in a row.

The champions defended their title on Sunday after they came from behind to conquer Sailors 4-1 at the City Park Hockey Stadium in Nairobi.

National team forward Festus Onyango scored a hat trick (36th, 43rd and 57th), while Vincent Onyango added one in the 47th minute for Butali.

Felix Opola had given the Sailors an eighth minute lead. Sailors player Johnstone Idiaz was red carded for abusing the umpires in the dying minutes of the game.

Idiaz will miss the remaining two match against United States International University Africa and Wazalendo.

With the win, Butali booked the first automatic ticket to next month’s Africa Cup for Clubs Championship to be staged at the Kenton grounds in Keleleshwa.

Their last match is against Kenya Police scheduled for January 29 when the season comes to the end.

Butali team manager Kamal Sembi was on cloud nine after defending the title.

“So far we are unbeaten with 43 points from 17 matches. We have one match remaining against Police and I hope we will guard our unbeaten record. We began the match poorly, but I’m happy that we found our footing in the second half and the results are there for everyone to see," said Sembi.

Sailors, who led 1-0 in the opening quarter, ran out of options as their defence cracked as Butali scored at will.

In the earlier matches played at the same venue, Multimedia University recovered from Saturday's 2-2 draw against Jomo Kenyatta University Agricultural Technology to squeeze a 1-0 win against Wazalendo Maters.

Jeff Asira scored in the 28th minute through a superb field goal.

Sikh Union came from behind to hold Nakuru Hockey Club 2-2 away at the Dashmesh grounds.

Eliud Macharia (10th) and Nelson Ochieng (32nd) scored for Nakuru, while Manpreet Singh (11th) and Harvir Ghataure (17th) netted for Sikh.