Rains temporarily halt KYISA Games, Meru revives title hopes

Heavy rains disrupted the Kenya Youth Inter-County (KYISA) Games which entered day three on Wednesday at the Unoa grounds in Makueni County, forcing football knockout fixtures to be pushed to Thursday.

The round of 16 fixtures for both men and women were scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon before the downpour halted the action.

The morning clashes however went on as planned, the Meru County men football team sailing through to the last 16 after edging Elgeyo Marakwet 3-2 in a scintillating five-goal thriller.

Speaking to the Citizen Digital after the win, Meru head coach Shem Ondiek who doubles up as the National Super League (NSL) side Talanta FC tactician, said this year’s competition is tougher but expects to do better that the last one.

“I have followed keenly this year’s competition and so far, specifically in football, the standards have gone high and I expect a bigger challenge because it appears teams have prepared well for these games,” told Ondiek.

The seasoned tactician made clear his intentions of scouting talent in competition for his NSL side.

“Although I’m concentrating on my team’s target to clinch this year’s title, I’m also looking for players even from my opponents because we have fine talent from all corners in our country,” noted Ondiek.

In another pool B fixture, 2014 winners Kajiado were stunned by Elgeyo Marakwet in the second preliminary tie crushing out despite their fine start against Meru on Monday.

Meanwhile, despite losing against hosts Makueni in pool A opener, 2015 champions Kwale sailed through after defeating winless Tharaka Nithi 2-0 in their second match.

Makueni, who won the first two matches, were the first team to make it to the knockout stages, winning 2-0 against Tharaka Nithi who crashed out.

In pool G, 2016 edition hosts Siaya topped with six points to earn last 16 berth alongside Kiambu with Turkana and Tana River making it in group F, while Kirinyaga and Nakuru made it from pool B.

In volleyball, men defending champions Nandi were expelled from the competition for fielding ineligible players with the same fate hitting Kiambu.

Preliminary action for volleyball is set to continue on Thursday before teams know their fate for the last eight stages as the KYISA galore.