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Njambini Boys and Wiyeta Girls started their chase for slots to the 2019 Copa Coca-Cola Under16 football titles on a winning note at Kisumu National Polytechnic yesterday. 

Last year’s national champions St Anthony Boy’s Kitale and Nangili Girls, who both went on to beat All-African opponents to be crowned the continent’s football Under-16 winners last year, will not be defending their title and in their absence, Wiyeta and Njambini are the teams to beat.

Wiyeta started their campaign strongly as they won 3-0 against Nyanza region champions Ugari, scoring two minutes into the game courtesy of a Jamila Amida before she sealed her brace later for a 2-0 half-time lead. 

And after the break, Edna Nanda added the third in the 55th minute to put the match beyond Ugari’s reach.

In the other girls match, Njambini were on fire as they also recorded a 3-0 thrashing of Nairobi’s Dagoretti Mixed.  Njambini’s Grace Njambi opened the scoring in the first half before Everlyne Anyango destroyed Dagoretti in the second stanza with a quick brace.

In the afternoon matches, Nyanza champions Kobala Girls were too hot to handle as they had already scored eight goals without reply past Itaara Girls by the time of going to press.

In the boys category, Koyonzo and Serani showed early intentions to succeed St Anthony’s, both teams recording identical 2-0 wins over Gatamaiyu and Goseta respectively.

In today’s fixtures, Agoro Sare will take on Dagoretti Mixed, Goseta Boys lock horns with Gatamaiyu while Serani battle it out with Koyonzo.