IHF Championship: Kenya suffer second defeat and elimination

Kenya Junior (Under 20) suffered their second defeat and elimination from the IHF Trophy zone five championship after going down to Uganda 31-28 in a seesaw entertainment clash staged at the Ulinzi Sports Complex on Thursday 28 October.

Kenya head coach Thodosia Sangoro blamed indiscipline in the game from his boys but was left impressed with the first half display from his boys.

"The two cards we got in the final minutes of the game cost us, they were six and we were four so they had an advantage. In the first half we played well and contained them well especially in the first 20 minutes," he said after the match.

Kenya redeemed themselves on Wednesday after finally getting their campaign underway, thrashing minnows South Sudan 49-15 to finally get points on board.

Kenyan Youth team through to IHF tournament semis after smashing South Sudan

The host nation had Kickstart the tournament on Tuesday with a narrow 25-28 loss to Burundi despite a spirited performance especially from goalkeeper Paul Opiyo who posted an outstanding game.

Kenya came into the match against neighbors and arch rivals Uganda needing nothing short of a victory in the match if they were to the advance into the knockout stages of the competition.

The winner of the tournament is set to qualify for the African Championship set for December in Conakry, Guinea with the tourney also serving as the qualifier for next year's World Championships.

Thodosia Sangoro's charges posted a decent start to the game buoyed by the boisterous sizeable crowd in the arena that got behind the team but Uganda soon found their groove and started putting points on the scoreboard.

Opiyo was again impressive in the first half and was head and shoulders above his teammates as he kept Kenya in the game as they went into the half time break leading 16-12 against their neighbors.

Discipline issues cost Kenya in the opening minutes of the second half as the conceded a number of penalties that came from the burly forward Bongomin Daniel who was a constant menace to the Kenya defense with his sheer size but the hosts went into the first second half time out leading 24-22.

The discipline issues did not subside for Kenya as Andrew Obukui was shown a red card for a second cynical foul as Uganda continued to plie on the pressure but Opiyo continued to dazzle in goal, singlehandedly keeping his side in the game.

Uganda ended up winning the game 31-28 with Kenya only having four players on the pitch in the final minutes.