Intense competition as school games kick off amid age-cheating claims
Investigations are underway into alleged age-cheating in boys and girls basketball, hockey and rugby
The 2025 Term 1A Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) national games have begun in earnest in Mombasa County with plenty of action already being witnessed across different venues.
Traditional schools continue to dominate with no particular upsets thus far. Basketball, hockey and rugby events in both girls and boys categories saw great competition but in some instances one-sided encounters.
In rugby 15s, Upperhill School from Nairobi made a bold statement in Pool A, thrashing Central region’s Mang’u High School 28-5 in a dominant performance that has placed them at the top of the group standings. In the other Pool A fixture, defending champions All Saints faced a tough test against Serani Boys.
The closely contested encounter ended 3-0 in favour of All Saints, who had to dig deep to edge past a resilient Serani side. Rift Valley’s Bwake Boys held their nerve to see off Marafa 13-09 in a tightly contested match, while Vihiga secured a narrow 11-09 victory over Kisii School in another close affair.
Kisii were to recover brilliantly with a 20-5 win over Marafa with Vihiga getting another win against Bwake. The 5-3 result only saw either side score a try and penalty respectively.
In boys basketball, last year national winners Dr Aggrey of Coast Region suffered a humbling 95-71 defeat from Nairobi regional winners Dagoretti High School. Another bigwig Laiser Hill Academy of Machakos County was 56-24 winners of Wajir High of Northern Kenya. Nyanza’s Sawagongo went head to head with Lukenya School but lost eventually 87-75.
For girls basketball, defending champions Butere Girls defeated St.Joseph’s Kitale 70-40 in a one sided affair with regional bigwigs Kaya Tiwi thumping Ikutha 100-23 with Asumbi Girls defeating Mpesa Academy of Thika 41-37 in a closely fought battle.
In boys’ handball, traditional stars rose to the occasion once again with 2024 finalists all picking wins. Highway Secondary School who were runners-up last year beat Sabunley 53-12 in a commanding display. Kimilili of Western beat Coastal region side 53-12
As for the girls handball competition, Moi Girls Kamusinga saw off Dagoretti Mixed 30-12 with Kyeni Girls of Central seeing of North Eastern side Hon DM Amin 53-06 in another comfortable victory.
Meanwhile, investigations are underway following controversy over alleged age-cheating in boys and girls basketball, hockey and rugby.
However, in girls basketball competition, Kaya Tiwi, Asumbi Girls and Ikutha Girls have had all their players cleared.
