Mamba, Ulinzi win, Buccaneers fall as KHF league takes shape

Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) league action continued at Nyayo Court this weekend with Black Mamba picking their fifth victory of the league, beating Technical University of Kenya (TUK) 30-24.

The former champions Mamba had Morgan Juma and Martin Nguli to thank for their contributions for victory as the two scored eight goals and five respectively to emerge top scorers.

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Mamba dominated the first half, scoring 18 against the varsity side’s ten to head to the break with a comfortable advantage. In the second half, however, Brian Werengai who was the highest scorer in the match with ten goals rallied the students on in an unsuccessful comeback.

The varsity side played a better second half scoring 14 goals against Mamba’s 12 but could not recover from the first half dent as they lost their fourth consecutive match.

“We are happy for the victory but we still have some work to do. We had a good show in the first half but our endurance was out to test in the final minutes of the second half. We have to work on that as well as sharpening our defense,” offered Mamba’s Paul Ondara.

In a separate match, former champions Ulinzi HC subjected Nairobi County Council (NCC) to a 39-23 defeat to extend their winning streak to four matches as the new entrants suffered their third loss in six matches.

Ulinzi’s Kelvin Imo gave another dominant performance for the military side, scoring 14 mostly from fast breaks as he often caught the NCC defense napping and his speed proved a thorn. Zedrick Kibet scored six for NCC in the loss.

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Meanwhile, varsity side Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) were no match for holders National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) as they suffered A 32-12 loss, their fifth in six matches as the millers picked a fourth victory.

The highlight match on Sunday pitted Buccaneers against Thika HC with the latter picking their second victory in five matches in a 35-31 outcome.

In a surprise result, Buccaneers who led 17-11 at half time allowed the Thika-based side to come back and pick a win with a poor second half show.

Franicks Njoroge and Randy Ochieng painfully watched as their seven goals a piece went down the drain as Kyalo Musay’s similar tally helped Thika to victory.