Strathmore University men’s handball team remain positive of retaining the Kenya Universities Sports Association’s title when the games head to Kakamega for the national playoffs.
The varsity showpiece is set for April 21 to 23 at the Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega.
Other sports discipline will be co-hosted at Bukhungu Stadium, Kakamega High School and Approved School (football) while basketball will be played at the Kakamega Police Canteen courts (women) and St. Peter’s Mumias indoor arena (men).
Strathmore’s head coach Peter Mwathi deems his lineup to be good enough to win the national title again. His charges’ confidence will be boosted by their recent narrow win (25-23) over national champions Kenya Defense Forces’ Ulinzi in the KHF Super Cup finals on April 2 to qualify for the Africa Club Championships.
“We have had a great 2016-17 season and we look forward to keep up the good run and successfully defend the national trophy. We have prepared well but at the same time we are aware other teams are training hard to beat the champions,” indicated Mwathi whose team finished the Nairobi South KUSA league unbeaten.
Strathmore men’s handball side has been drawn in Pool ‘A’ alongside Technical University of Mombasa and Kenyatta University Kitui campus. There will also be tough competition from Kenya Handball Federation national league sides Technical University of Kenya, St. Paul’s University and Mt. Kenya University.
TUK are drawn together with Pwani and Maseno universities in the second group, St. Paul’s are in pool ‘C’ with University of Eldoret and hosts MMUST, whereas Mt. Kenya will play Southern Eastern Kenya University and Egerton Njoro in ‘D.’
The women’s teams seeding are Mt. Kenya, Pwani, Egerton Njoro in pool ‘A,’ MMUST, Embu University, UoN in group ‘B,’ UoE, Strathmore, TUM in ‘C,’ while SEKU and Kibabii were pitted in pool ‘D.’