Amos Serem bags Kenya’s first silver medal at African Games

Kenya bagged the first medal in the ongoing 2023 All-African Games in Accra Ghana as Kenyan pair Amos Serem and Simon Koech finished second and third respectively in the men’s 3000m steeplechase race.

Ethiopia’s Samuel Firewu overpowered the Kenyans to storm to victory with a time of 8:24.30 while the 2021 World Under 20 championship gold medalist Serem crossed the line in a time of 8:25.77 with Koech clocking 8:26.19 for a podium finish.

Serem, the Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, sprinted past his fellow countryman Koech in the last 100m to claim silver though was unlucky to catch up with Firewu.

The 20-year-old Ethiopian rookie managed to stave off the hot pursuit of the Kenyan duo in the last 400m to walk away with gold and make another wait for Kenya to reclaim dominance in the water and hurdles race.

Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali broke the preeminence in the race when he became the first non-Kenyan to win the Olympic gold event since Poland's Bronisław Malinowski won the title in Moscow in 1980 during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Since then, Bakkali has gone on to win the world title in Oregon (2022) as well as last year in Budapest.

Another Kenyan in the race Edmund Serem making his debut in senior competitions timed 8:31:21 to finish sixth.

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Women’s 5000M

Kenya’s hopes of clinching gold in the 5000m women’s race got a setback on Monday night when 3000m steeplechase world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech finished fourth in a race dominated by Ethiopians

Eisa Medina won the race clocking a time of 15:04.32 ahead of her compatriots, Molla Birtukan (15:05.32) and Wudu Melknat (15:07.04) who came second and third respectively to complete a clean sweep in the medal brackets for the high-altitude nation.

Despite a strong start to the race and leading the Ethiopian pack for the better part of the race, Chepkoech lost grip with five laps to go and was unable to regain the lead as the Ethiopians surged ahead to win the race.

Angela Okutoyi storms quarter-finals

Angela Okutoyi kept alive her dream of clinching gold at the ongoing Africa Games in Accra after defeating Egyptian Merna Elkotb in their round of 16 clash on Monday to storm the last eight.

The 2022 Wimbledon Open doubles champion won 6-2 6-3 to secure a slot in the quarters.

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