Handball: KDF eye second place as top league resumes

The Kenya Handball Federation National League resumes this weekend with 12 matches lined up at Nyayo National Stadium handball court in Nairobi.

The league had taken a break last December to pave way for the East Central Africa Clubs Championship event that was staged in Zanzibar and the December festivities altogether.

National Cereals and Produce Board and Nairobi Water won the men's and women's titles respectively. Cereals defeated Tanzania's Jeshi La Kujenga Taifa 32-20 in the men's event while Nairobi Water overwhelmed their compatriots Cereals 25-21 in the women's version.

Nairobi Water and Cereals will however not be in action this weekend.

Third-placed Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) therefore have a chance to dislodge Cereals from second position and close in on rivals Water.

KDF have 20 points from 11 matches and a win against Rising Stars on Saturday and Daystar University on Sunday will propel them to second position with 24 points, four behind unbeaten and defending champions Nairobi Water and two ahead of Cereals.

Reliable KDF player Euphrasia Mukasia said that on paper, the fixture looks easy but they will not be over confident.

Daystar are winless from nine matches, while Rising Stars have recorded one win from 10 matches and they occupy the bottom positions in the 12-team league.

"Rising Stars are not pushovers. Remember Rising Stars are Dagoretti Mixed High School who are Nairobi region Kenya Secondary School Sports Association champions and therefore we will not underrate them. They have power and agility and we will have to find a way to tame them. We have prepared well and we look forward to bag the four points at the end of the action," said Mukasia. 

Also on the cards on Saturday, visiting and fourth-placed Rangers play Amazon before they face Kenyatta University in their last match of the day.

Rangers from Bungoma County will then battle Navigators on Sunday to complete their busy outing.

National County Council Government (NCCG) team manager Beverly Abulamusi is optimistic her side will record more wins after the long break. NCCG have won two matches from 11 matches played.

"Our focus is to win more matches as that will help us finish the league in a respectable position. It is our first time in the league and we hope to come back better next season. It has been a learning process for us," said Abulamusi.

NCCG take on Daystar before they welcome Rangers on Sunday.

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) have two fixtures against Navigators and New hope.

Fixtures

Saturday

Daystar v Net Navigators (9am)

Amazon v Rangers (10:30am)

Rising Star v KDF (12pm)

Net navigators v JKUAT (1:30pm)

NCC v Daystar (3pm)

Rangers v KU (4:30pm)

Sunday

Rangers v Navigators (9am)

Daystar v Amazon (10:30am)

Net Navigators v Rising Star (12pm)

NCC v Rangers (1:30pm)

KDF v Daystar (3pm)

New Hope v JKUAT (4:30pm)