Kenya’s hopes hang in the balance
PHOTO | FILE Nelson Simwa reacts to his putt on the 12th hole green during Kenya Amateur Stroke Play Championship on 9th October 2013 at Sigona Golf Club.
What you need to know:
- Mauritius and Swaziland collect nine points to stay fourth behind South Africa and Zimbabwe
- Team must collect 8 points to retain last year’s second slot after a poor round in Zone Six Championship
Kenya’s hopes of finishing at least in second place at this year’s Africa Zone Six Golf Championship hangs in the balance after picking up only a point and a half in the third round of Wednesday’s four ball better ball.
By the end of Wednesday, Kenya were joint sixth with Malawi, thanks to the partnership of Eric Ooko and Justus Madoya who beat Mozambique’s Paulosse Mabica and Domingo 3-2 and the half a point collected by team captain Nelson Simwa and Mohit Mediratta.
The team must win eight points today to improve on last year’s fourth place finish.
“We came here for serious business and that is exactly what we did, winning our match,’’ said Ooko after finishing off the two Mozambique players. “We combined very well and did not give our opponents a chance to recover after going up," he added.
However, Simwa said his game against Zambia’s Mwalikwa Sondashi and Aaron Simfukwe was a close affair. “We managed to exchange leads against them until a few holes to go when they went one up, although we are happy we did not lose the game,’’ said Simwa at the 18th where they won the hole to square the game for the half a point.
Just half a point ahead of Kenya was Swaziland and Mauritius who tied for fourth place with a total of nine and half each. Swaziland won two matches same as Mauritius.
It was however a good outing for Namibia who collected maximum points (four) to move to third place on their own with a total of 11.5 points and just a friction behind Zimbabwe who maintained their second place with 12 points after winning three matches.
Defending champions South Africa remained on course to retain the trophy with 15 points despite having lost 3-2 to Zimbabwe. They however beat Zambia 6-4.
Kenya’s Tony Omuli and Adel Balala went down 3-2 to Christian Bezuidenhout and N.J. Arnoldi.
The championship comes to an end today and Kenya must collect eight points to improve on last year’s fourth place finish.
“We real had good chances of winning this tournament, but we have messed up many scoring opportunities,’’ said Kenya coach Anil Shah. A total of 12 countries are participating in this year’s championship. Next year’s edition will be held in Uganda.
