Early birds Ntare in hockey semis

MBALE-Ntare School is aiming to scoop boys’ hockey gold after it became the first team to make the semifinal stage at the Fresh Dairy Secondary School Ball Games yesterday.

The 2018 runners-up have enjoyed a comfortable journey thus far at Mbale Secondary School with three wins in as many games.
Yesterday, Ntare topped their four-team pool thanks to a 3-2 victory over Kings College Budo.

However, the Elias Kesige-tutored boys needed to come from 1-0 down to triumph thanks to skipper Matthias Akanyihayo who struck twice in a space of two minutes.

Midfielder Akanyihayo is enjoying a purple patch as he has scored a brace in every match so far.
He did so as Ntare beat Kawempe Muslim 3-0 as well as the 2-0 victory over Mbarara High School on Monday.

Now they are eyeing the final but the student in senior six who offers BCM/ICT believes it is not about him alone.

“We have team work and trust ourselves,” a thrilled Akanyihayo told Daily Monitor. “And our coach is doing everything right. We also have great support from our patron John Baptist Ahimbisibwe.” From the team that finished second last year after a round-robin phase, Ntare lost three key players Abbott Birungi, Davis Nahumuza and Wisdom Emmanuel who completed senior six.

But Birungi returned and is now assistant to Kesige. “We love the game at Ntare. So we have youngsters in senior 1 and 2 who have joined us. We want to go on and win the tournament unbeaten,” added the lad who debuted at the Games in 2016.
Meanwhile, defending champions Kakungulu Memorial School are scoring for fun in the girls’ category. They yesterday put 18 goals past Seeta High, akin to their win over Kings College Budo on Monday.

Nine teams are completing in the boys’ class while 11 are for girls.

2018 WINNERS
BOYS
Gold: Kakungulu Memorial
Silver: Ntare School
Bronze: Sir Samuel Baker
GIRLS
Gold: Kakungulu Memorial
Silver: St. Mary’s Namagunga
Bronze: Bweranyangi Girls

FEASSA GAMES - HOCKEY
Boys Results
Ntare 3-0 Kawempe
Ntare 3-2 KC Budo
Ntare 2-0 Mbarara HS
Kakungulu 5-0 St Charles
Kawempe M 2-0 Mbarara HS
Smack 20-0 Seeta HS
Girls Results
Kakungulu 18-0 Seeta HS
KC Budo 0-12 Old Kampala
Kakungulu 18-0 KC Budo
Namagunga 4-0 Gayaza HS
Old Kampala 8-0 Seeta HS