Nairobi Water hit Ivorians in Africa tourney
National women’s handball champions Nairobi Water on Sunday beat Bandama of Cote d’Ivoire 26-24 in the Africa Club Championship at the Palais des Sports in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
It was Nairobi Water’s first win at the competition after losing their opening two matches in Group ‘B’. The win means the Kenyan champions have a chance of reaching the quarterfinals should they win their final group match against Asel of Congo Brazzaville on Monday. Asel have won two games already in the competition. They beat Bandama 34-25 before edging out TKC 24-22 in their second match.
In Sunday’s encounter, Jack Ochieng’s charges recovered from 13-12 at halftime and dug deep to claim their first win of the competition. Forward Brenda Ariviza starred for the three national champions with seven goals while Judy Augo and Gladys Chilo scored four points each. Ariviza was also the team’s top scorer in their opening two matches scoring five goals in both matches.
Falimata Kouyate top-scored for Bandama with eight goals.
“It was a close game, both teams played offensively but I think we wanted it more in the end and our resilience carried us through,”
Ochieng told Daily Nation Sport on phone on from Ouagadougou.
“We have great opportunity of reaching the next round and the ladies know what is at stake. They (Asel) are a good side but we have the momentum and I believe we can beat them.”
The team opened their account with a 31-22 defeat in the hands of TKC of Cameroon in their opening match on Friday night before they fell 40-19 to champions Primero of Angola on Saturday night.
