St Anthony, Shanderema to rekindle rivalry in Rwanda

Six-time Kenya Secondary Schools football champions St Anthony Kitale will once again face ambitious Shanderema Secondary at the East African Games in Huye, Rwanda starting on Saturday.

Solidarity Boys as they are commonly known, halted Shanderema’s dream of lifting the Kenyan School Games title after thrashing them 1-0 in the semi final last week at a parked Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega.

It will yet another show of might away from home between the two local teams that have enjoyed massive following during the national championships,having been paired together in Group A of the regional games.

St Anthony head coach Peter Mayo is upbeat ahead of the showdown abroad and has termed the re-match against the Kakamega side as free points for his team.

“Those are free points for St Anthony,there is no competition there,I will beat them again.I have already know how they play and as we head to the competition I have already counted three points in our bag from Shanderema,” Mayoyo told People Daily Sport.

Other teams in Group A includes St Henry’s College of Uganda,Amus School (UG), Kalangalala of Tanzania and hosts CGFK (Rwanda)

Coach Mayoyo says they are going to the championships with confidence after clinching the national title stylishly in Kakamega.

He says the time is right for St Anthony to stop St Mary’s Kitende’s dominance and and register their name in the books of winners for the second time having been successfull in 2022.

“We are going to Rwanda with our heads high up.We are optimistic of continuing with our good show that you have all witnessed.We are going there to reclaim the title and we believe it is time.St Mary’s Kitende can be stopped,our ambition is to go step by step until we reach the World School Games.”

Dagoretti High who lost in the final against Solidarity Boys is in pool B against the thirteenth time champions of the East African School Games St Mary’s Kitende. Shanderema will begin chase for glory against CGFK on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sports Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ababu Namwamba yesterday urged teachers and parents to join hands in developing talents among school going children adding that the government had already allocated Sh 267 million for the job.

Speaking during the launch of the Talanta Hela National Holiday Sports camp at Kasarani Stadium, Ababu said that this is a historical event that has never happened in Kenya and we should all take it seriously.

“ We have scouts and coaches that have gone round and selected these children to come here and be coached, be mentored and also be taught life skills that will develop them into women and men of honor for the future,” said Ababu.

Different high school players from across the country have congregated at Kasarani and will be coached and mentored in Rugby, football, Netball, Chess, Basketball, Table tennis, Swimming, Hockey, Volleyball and others.

Ababu has challenged the federation representatives that were present at the event to recruit junior national teams directly from the holiday camp adding that it gives value to what the government is trying to achieve.

The holiday camp has been organized by the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS) in conjunction with the ministry of sports arts and culture and invited the best players from the just concluded Kenya Secondary Sports Association (KSSSA) National games in Kakamega County.

Ababu also said that next year In addition to the camp, there will be an elite competition that will see Kenya’s best talents from different Schools challenging each other with a close eye of different top league coaches and scouts for their sake to develop into national team and club players.

The players will stay at Moi Stadium Kasarani and will be provided with food , accommodation and medical services for a period of two weeks.

KAS has invited 2,017 high school players for a period of six days residential camp.