Ng'iya Girls crowned Nyanza hockey champions

Ng’iya Girls are the new Nyanza Region Secondary School hockey girls’ champions.

The Siaya County champions completed a double over former East African champions Nyamira Girls after narrowly edging them out 1-0 in the finals played on Saturday at St Joseph’s Boys Rapogi in Migori County.

Mercy Rebecca scored the winner in the seventh minute of the opening quarter, a 1-0 lead they would defend in the remaining three quarters and eventually dethrone the champions.

Last week, Ng’iya saw off Nyamira 2-0 in eight seconds to end the Bondo-based outfit decade decade-long dominance in Siaya County. The teams had played out to a 1-1 raw during regular time.

Ng’iya will now represent Nyanza at the national finals set for Mombasa next month.

“We started this team three years ago when I joined Ng’iya in 2023. It is so overwhelming to see how the girls have performed after a very difficult start where we would lose by big margins to opponents. Winning this year shows you growth.

“Congratulations to the technical bench and the students for believing in themselves and now we take the fight to the national finals next month,” said Hellen Masengeli, Ng’iya Girls Principal.

In hockey boys, Our Lady of Mercy Ringa Boys came from behind to retain their title after a 2-1 win over Mbita High School in a tense final played at Rapogi Primary grounds.

Mbita took a first-half 1-0 lead before the defending champions rallied from behind to score two goals in the fourth quarter to retain their title.

Speaking after the win, Ringa hockey tactician Tolbert Kannah said resilience and faith got them back to the nationals.

“We never lost faith even after going behind. These boys are ripe for pressure games and we just showed once again that winning last year’s final was no fluke but a hard work from the boys,” said Kannah.