National wide team Moi University side Arsonists stunned Kenya Cup’s Kenyatta University’s (KU) Blak Blad to win the rugby 7s title at the ongoing Kenya University Sports Federation (KUSF) at the University of Eldoret ground in Uasin Gishu County.
Played in a round robin after five teams registered to compete at the 10th edition championships, Moi and KU both won four matches, drawing one with Arsonists winning the title on point difference.
In a tense final match, marred with violence following the last winning try, Moi managed to squeeze in the final try to draw and went ahead to win on a point difference. Moi gained point difference of 67 against KU’s 62 to earn the title.
During the action parked encounter, Elisha Thuo bagged a brace of tries with another from Brian Titus for the champions while Blad scored through Sospeter Osike and Elvis Otete for a final 17-17 score.
Thuo touched down first before adding extras for 7-0 lead then he bagged the second try and missed the conversion for 12-0 lead but Osike went past the white wash, converting to reduce the score to 12-07 then missed a conversion for 12-12.
Otete failed to convert Claude Kennedy to give KU a 12-17 lead but a quick counter by Titus leveled the score to 17-17 with Arsonists winning on point difference.
Moi captain Stanley Nyarwende said they came into the championships with a clean mind of winning and especially facing off with Blad.
“We wanted to win this title and we have done so. With the final match in round robin against KU, we really wanted to beat them, it was unfortunate that we did not win but we are the champions,” he said.
In basketball girls, the Kenya Basketball Federation premier league side The United States International University (USIU) side, the Flames edged out their league counterparts The University of Nairobi side Dynamites in the opening fixtures on Wednesday morning.
In counter match, Flames won the match in 51-26 against Dynamite in what Flames coach George Mayenge described as friendly encounter.
Mayenge said thag winning an opening match is a good sign in the championships.
“We thank god for winning the opening game against our neighbours the University of Nairobi.
We are still waiting for more this is another way of building friendships,” said Mayenge.
Be added that they played and won the match but they remain friends, not enemies because basketball is a game of cycles.
“I need to see the see the game he or she playing so that I can make mine better. If we lose, we learn from the mistakes to improve on. If we win, we still push it up because you’re the target since each team will come for you,” added Mayenge who is eying to retain the title.
With KBF delayed league set to start in February, he said: “I have players who have not graduated but we have three to four freshers and I hope to get more freshers by January.”
“I cannot speak about league starting. Though it has delayed, and we have KUSF where our girls and boys will play waiting for the league.
In men’s basketball, the KBF Division One side KU Pirates defeated their hosts The University of Eldoret 85-61 in the opening fixtures.
Captain Briann Musembi, they had a good but tough game against their hosts which was a good thing as they prepare for league.
“It’s a good win for the boys who played and won against worthy opponents and we are using KUSF as part of our preparations for the league set for February 2026.
KUSF helps us to execute our matches, gel well and get some compatibility, to understand each other. In the next game, we want to go harder, shoot more for victory,” he said.
Fresh from winning the Ultra Trail 23km Mountain Run in South Africa, Isaiah Kiriago stormed to victory in the men’s 10,000m.
With focus to compete at the Tinderet Mountain Run, the Kisii University runner triumphed in 31:29:7 in day one of track and field, defeated Evanson Kipkirui of Maseno in 31:58:1 as JKUAT’s Dan Lolngojine closed the podium in 32:24:3.
National 400m champion George Mutinda, who represented the country in the same distance at the Tokyo World Championships, finishing fifth in his heat, oozed class in the single-lap heats.
Mutinda – a fourth year criminology student at the University of Embu easily won heat 3, clocking 47:36. He was followed by Jacob Jorim of JKUAT and Collins Kipchirchir (Kenyatta University), who stopped the timer in 50:04 and 50:48 for second and third places respectively in their heat.
