Gross puts North Kenya on course for Kenya Open glory

A perfect backhand execution by captain Casimir Gross (handicap five) saw Samsung Galaxy North Kenya beat Samurai 7-5 in the Samsung Galaxy Kenya Open International tournament on Saturday at the Nairobi Polo Club.

The win saw Galaxy North take a commanding lead going into today final showdown.

This was Galaxy North’s second win as they had earlier on beaten Samsung Galaxy Nairobi 10-7.5 on Friday.

Saturday’s victory puts Galaxy Nirth in a good position of winning the prestigious 10-14 goal category as they face Buster McKenzie’s Peroni team on Monday.

Peroni had lost 5.5-8 to Samurai in their first match on Friday but recovered yesterday to collect their first points by beating Galaxy Nairobi 9-6.5.

McKenzie scored a whopping five goals for Peroni, while veteran player Phillou Salle (handicap two) and Henry Limb (handicap two) notched one goal each.

TIGHT RACE

“The competition is tougher this weekend but I am happy we didn’t lose today. We have one more match remaining and I hope everything goes well tomorrow,” said South African elite player Buster McKenzie after the match.

In the subsidiary matches, captain Chris Foot (1) scored the winner as his Millar team beat Samsung Galaxy S5 5-2.5 at the Stables pitch.

Foot’s goals had been supplemented by Chloe Spoerry (0) and Edward Burbidge (0) who scored a goal each to help their team to two crucial points.

Playing as a last minute substitute for the injured Suki Shretta(0), Ruth Horsie (0) swung in a goal for the losers, but it was not enough for the SGS5 quartet.

Kigen Moi (1) captained Samsung Galaxy Tab to a 5.5-5 victory over Samsung Galaxy Gear in the other subsidiary match. Moi sent through four of their five goals, with Dominic Grammaticus (0.5) adding one more goal in the second chukka to complete their winning score.