Depleted Police braced for new KHU season

Former Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) premier league champions Kenya Police are braced for the new season where they are looking to reclaim back their crown with the 2019 season looming.

Police lost the title last season to Butali Sugar Warriors in a dramatic fashion in the last match of the season after losing to Warriors 2-1 hence surrendering the title on goal difference.

The Law Enforcers resumed training on Monday at the Mathare depot grounds under the stewardship of head coach Patrick Mugambi who said his charges are slowly building on their fitness after a the holidays.

“We started training on Monday and what we are majorly focusing on is to recover our fitness levels in the build up to the new season,” Mugambi told Citizen Digital.

Police have already lost two strikers in Calvin Kanu and Amos Barkibir who have been instrumental to Police attack for the recent seasons.

According to Mugambi they have not released the two players claiming the duo legally remain the players of Police, although they have not been turning up for training.

“We have not released them (Barkibir and Kanu) since they are still contracted to our club and have not yet cleared meaning they still belong here,” said Mugambi.

Mugambi has also revealed that even if the two eventually leave they are not in a hurry to sign new players owing to their strength in depth.

“We have not signed anyone and we are not in a hurry either. Even if the two players leave, we have many players in our squad who are waiting for their chances,” revealed Mugambi.

Police are earmarked to get off their 2019 season with a match against Nairobi Simba on March 17 in what Mugambi said they are looking to start their campaign on a high note.

“We want to start our season in the best way possible and especially considering that there is no easy match in the league we are keen to avoid any slip ups,” said Mugambi.

Having finished as the runners-up, Police automatically qualified for the Africa Cup for Club Championships finals and Mugambi is hopeful they will grace this year’s tournament after pulling out of last edition’s showpiece held in Nigeria.

“We are optimistic that this year we will be participating in the Club championships. We are engaging with our management over the same,” revealed Mugambi.