Lake region handball teams urged to up game
Lake region handball teams have been asked to raise their game following dismal performances in the just concluded Victoria Handball Super Cup 2020 Championship.
This year’s toutnament brought together 27 teams from across the country, mainly drawn from Nairobi, Machakos, Western region and Kuria, but after the two-day extravaganza, it was Nairobi Recce Queens and Nairobi Recce men’s team that carried the day.
The lake region sides, who were the hosts teams, were left stunned as the visiting teams overpowered them.
Kisumu Saints who came into the tournament as defending champions in the men’s category were knocked out in the quarter-finals while last year’s women’s first runners up Kisumu Poly and second runners up Kisumu Academy Ladies failed to progress past the group stages, leaving tournament organiser and league regional director Robert Owino scratching his head.
Owino said this year’s tournament has acted as an eye opener to lakeside teams to up their game if the region harbours any hopes of competing with big boys in the country.
“Our standards really need to improve. On Sunday, the Lake region teams were taught a lesson by teams from outside the region.
So this is a wake-up call to all of us to work even harder to develop the game in this region,” said Owino who also thanked Kisumu County Woman Rep Rosa Buyu, handball guru Akaka and Kisumu County sports youth representative Osula for making the tournament a success by donating trophies and support.
Reece Queens and Recce Nairobi men were ruthless from the first match to finals as they outplayed all their opponents to lift the 2020 Victoria Handball Super Cup Championship titles.
Recce Queens defeated Migingo Queens 12-11 in an entertaining final to win the women’s title while Recce Nairobi men edged out Mountain Handball Club from Mountain Elgon 7-6 in another nerve-wrecking final to lift the men’s trophy, leaving Queens captain Alexina Ambani delirious.
“The tournament was good and we’re excited to be crowned 2020 Victoria Handball Super Cup Champions.
Apart from the grounds which made us not to display our moves, we thank God for the victory.
It’s not easy to play on muddy grounds like that but it was a nice experience and going forward, this victory opens new doors for us and I hope we shall maintain the wins and translate it to our league encounters,” said Ambani whose team is made up of players from different teams playing in the top tier National Handball League.
