Cameras belonging to Vivid Features who are meant to shoot the game on behalf of Star Times being set up at Nyayo. PHOTO/Courtesy

NAIROBI, July 3- The battle between Kenya and Ethiopia on Saturday has spilled from the field of play into an all out broadcast war.

On the eve of the game, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) officials and police barricaded Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium to allow crew from their new broadcast partners Star Times to rig up to televise the match.

This show of brutal force was meant to keep rival South African pay television service providers, SuperSport away from the game venue with police officers manning the stadium under firm instructions not to allow any of their trucks of crew to set up.

SuperSport announced Thursday they had acquired rights to beam the match across Africa from Confederation of African Football (CAF) authorised marketing firm, Sport Five.

The extraordinary events of Friday are the latest soap opera in Kenyan football that will only end up by embarrassing the nation.

Reporters coming to cover Harambee Stars final training sessions were stopped at the gates and asked where they were going before one of the Sports Stadia Management Board staffers told them, “SuperSport people will not be allowed here, things are bad.”

“What I know about SuperSport is when their people are told not to come to cover anything here, they won’t come,” the staffer who was baffled by the heavy security presence added.

Soon, crew from Vivid Features who are meant to shoot the match on behalf of StarTimes arrived with their cameras and started marking out the positions to rig their equipment under the watchful eye of FKF chief executive, Michael Esakwa and former journalist turned federation media official, Milton Nyakundi.

Earlier, SuperSport who announced they would air the game last night confirmed in a statement they had acquired the rights to show it in Kenya and across the continent.

“Broadcasting the CHAN qualifiers shows our commitment to the growth of football in Kenya, not just at club level but also with the national team.

“Kenyans love their national team and we are making it possible for them to enjoy their favourite players from the Kenyan Premier League do battle on the international stage,” Auka Gecheo, SuperSport East Africa, General Manager, said in the statement.

“We know exactly what we are doing, we know what we own. StarTimes is one of the largest cooperates and they know their line. They are not going to pop into other people’s life.

“The national team is not about Sam Nyamweya or Robert Asembo (vice president), the national team belongs to Kenya and we are not going to stop our mandate of supporting our national team,” FKF president, Sam Nyamweya said Wednesday when they rolled out their USD5m five-year package in Nairobi.

It was at this function where the federation and Star Times boss, Gary Rathbone announced they would air the match.

In a series of three letters, CAF had cautioned FKF against violating broadcast rights by engaging partners to air CHAN, AFCON and World Cup qualifiers outside those sanctioned by continental governing body.

“Reference to our correspondence dated the 14th of May and in conformity to the provisions of articles 47 of the regulations of African Nations Championships, the television and publicity rights, of matches of the first and second round of preliminaries of the African Nations Championships as well as the final phase belong to CAF and all marketing and television rights of the Orange African Nations Championship, RWANDA 2016 will directly and exclusively be commercialised by CAF,” the CAF letter signed by Marketing and TV Director, Amr Shaheen, read.

Amid all this drama, there is a football match to be played with Kenya needing three unanswered goals to progress after Walia Ibex hit them 2-0 in the first leg in Ethiopia.

Should the turnaround be completed, Harambee Stars will sail through to the second round of the qualifiers where Sudan await with a ticket to Rwanda 2016 finals up for grabs.

Paul Were trains with Harambee Stars on Friday. PHOTO/Courtesy

NAIROBI, June 3 – Newly signed Gor Mahia speedy winger, Paul Were, has been ruled out of Saturday’s CHAN first round return leg qualifier against Ethiopia’s Walia Ibex at Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium.

Speaking Friday after conducting the team’s final training, head coach Bobby Williamson said Were is ineligible to play due to complications with his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).

“He (Were) will not be available because he has not been cleared. He is yet to get his ITC from his previous South African club but I’m not worried because i have good players up front,” Williamson said.

Gor assistant Secretary General, Ronald Ngala is hopeful they will get the ITC by Wednesday since they had already applied for it.

“We did our part, the rest is up to the federation to follow up so I’m sure they are in talks with their South African counterpart to speed up the process. We cannot field him until we get the ITC,” Ngala told Capital Sport.

Were joined K’Ogalo from relegated South African Premier Soccer League side Amazulu on Monday but the transfer is yet to be cleared.

Other changes in the squad that has an uphill task of reversing the 2-0 first-leg defeat include Gor centrebacks, Musa Mohammed and Harun Shakava as well as Thika United left-back, Dennis Odhiambo who all sat out.

With Were who scored in their 1-1 Afcon qualifiers away to Congo Brazzaville sidelined,  Williamson hopes in form Gor Mahia goal poacher, Michael Olunga and Tusker’s Jesse Were will rise to the occasion.

“The most important thing is as much as we seek goals, we should remain solid at the back and make sure we don’t concede. It’s really uphill task but I’m confident we can score more than two goals.

“I will approach the game positively. If the keeper had not saved the penalty it could have been easier. It doesn’t matter when the goal will come but when it does we will build up from there but for now I will try and keep my cards close to my chest,” the Scotsman stated.

Olunga comes on the back of netting four goals in their 4-1 KPL demolition of Chemelil Sugar while Were scored a brace in their 3-0 thumping of Nakuru All Stars.

Williamson is expected to make slight changes from the squad that played in Ethiopia with Edwin Wafula starting at the right-back, Odhiambo on the left while Mohammed and Shakava will man the central defence to protect, keeper Boniface Oluoch.

Skipper, Collins Okoth is expected to control the midfield with AFC Leopard’s Bernard Mang’oli while Ali Abondo who was benched in Ethiopia likely to start on the right wing as Kevin Kimani continues his role on the left.

Current KPL top scorer on 11 goals, Olunga and Jesse Were who came on as a substitute in Ethiopia are likely to hunt for goals.

Stars need to score three unanswered goals for them to advance to the second round where Sudan await.

Officials from Comoros will be in charge of the match with Ali Mohammed Adelaid appointed as centre referee assisted by Soulai Amaladine and Hamadi Houssein Ibrahim while Noiret Bacari will be the reserve referee.

Match Commissioner, Kayijuka Gaspard from Rwanda will be the match Commissioner.

A broadcast van belonging to SuperSport. PHOTO/File

NAIROBI, July 3- SuperSport International maintain they are the rightful broadcast right holders of Saturday’s CHAN preliminary round qualifier return leg between Harambee Stars and Walia Ibex of Ethiopia at Nyayo National Stadium.

The South African based pay television firm insist their plans to air the game in Kenya and across Africa in their platform will not be affected by a blockade mounted by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) at Nyayo National Stadium, the match venue.

Federation officials engaged police officers to enforce a lockout of SuperSport crew from the stadium on Friday as personnel from Vivid Features who have been contracted by their new media partners, StarTimes, set up their broadcast equipment.

In a rejoinder, StarTimes Director of Sports, Gary Rathbone accuses SuperSport of trying to run them out of town by acquiring rights to a game they ‘had no prior interest’.

Capital Sport has obtained a copy of the contract signed between SuperSport International and SportFive, the firm that distributes broadcast rights on behalf of CAF giving them licence to air the encounter.

“Any infringement of all or part of these private rights, notably in case of use of them of use of them without a valid agreement or in case of an improper use of them, contravenes the applicable laws and regulations and is liable to legal proceedings,” the letter published below in full giving SuperSport the rights reads.
,

A copy of the contract between SuperSport International and SportFive. PHOTO/Courtesy

Speaking to Capital Sport, Rathbone confirmed they would pull out or continue their plans to air the game depending on the communication they receive from the federation regarding the matter.

“Our contract is with FKF and not SportFive and if they inform us they were wrong in giving us the rights to broadcast the game, then we have no problem, we shall take our things and move away.

“If they contact CAF and give us the correct position regarding the game, we shall abide by what we are told and we are trying to sort that matter,” Rathbone, a former Head of Africa at SuperSport said.

He accused their giant rivals of using their muscle to stifle competition with Saturday’s game providing a battleground in local pay television supremacy wars.

“SuperSport have no interest of Kenyan football at heart. If they wanted to own the rights of the game, they should have acquired them as early as last week for example.

“The only reason they have moved for this match is because we made an announcement to partner with the federation for Harambee Stars. In the event we move out and there is no competition, you think they will be interested in forthcoming games?” the director claimed.

Rathbone emphasised their USD5m (close to half a billion shillings deal) five-year deal for all national teams was meant to give local football a shot in the arm as opposed to purely commercial interest for the Chinese owned broadcaster,

It remains to be seen what sanctions or penalties FKF and /or their StarTimes media partners will incur should they press on with the lockout as published in this link http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/07/03/fkf-locks-supersport-out-of-nyayo/

The television wars threaten to steal the thunder from the match where Stars need to fire in three unanswered or more goals to overturn a 2-0 reverse they ceded in the first leg in Ethiopia.

Anticipation of what would be the biggest comeback in recent Kenya’s football history has been tempered by the unprecedented tussle over broadcasting rights to a Stars game.

FKF President, Sam Nyamweya, has promised to get back to Capital Sport to explain their side of the story in what is turning out to be gripping saga.

Ethiopia’s Walia Ibex take a water break during their training session at Nyayo ahead of their CHAN return leg qualifier against Kenya. PHOTO/Courtesy.

NAIROBI, July 3 – Ethiopia head coach, Yohannes Tessema has played down the significance of their healthy 2-0 first-leg advantage as they prepare to face hosts Harambee Stars in Saturday’s CHAN return-leg clash at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium.

Tessema, a former Ethiopian giants St, George player, said he has no injury worries and their target is to progress to the second round where the winner between Djibouti and Burundi await.

The fancied Walia Ibex who reached last edition’s group stages of the home nations showpiece, had shifted their training base to Awasi City, 104km from capital Addis Ababa, to acclimatize to the Kenyan high elevation.

“We are here to win and go home. We need to go to the next round. This is a new ball game we have forgotten what happened in the past. Right now it’s all about 90 minutes. We will look at it as if we have never played each other before.

“We have to do a better job because our guys are motivated. They want to prove themselves because some of them missed a lot of chances in the first-leg.

“We have the advantage but we never look at it that way,” Tessema declared after conducting their last training on the eve of the game at match venue, Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium.

The coach asserted his charges will not be troubled playing away but admitted it will be a tall order to beat Stars in their own turf.

Ethiopia who return to the pitch they held Stars to a barren draw during the 2013 Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup will see their danger man Aschalew Girma who scored their opener, give the Kenyan defence a torrid time.

“We are not coming here to defend, we want to score goals. Stars are a very organised team and it was very hard for us to break their defence to score those two goals,” he added.

Stars who are expected to host the 2018 edition, will be seeking to overturn the deficit and revive their hopes of reaching their maiden CHAN final when the fourth edition will be hosted in Rwanda next year.

Stars head coach, Bobby Williamson is expected to make changes in the defence after the inclusion of Gor Mahia centre backs, Musa Mohammed and Harun Shakava as well as left-back, Dennis Odhiambo who all missed the Ethiopia trip.

Kenya will be battling against history having failed to overhaul such an imposing first-leg deficit in recent times in official tournament competition at the tie overshadowed by broadcast rights war between SuperSport and StarTimes who lay claim to authority to air the game.

Stars head coach, Bobby Williamson, leads training ahead of Saturday’s Ethiopia clash at Nyayo. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, July 4- Kenya risks a ban from all CAF competitions if Football Kenya Federation (FKF) media partners, StarTimes, go ahead to air Saturday’s 2016 CHAN return leg qualifier against Ethiopia at Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium.

In a letter addressed last night to FKF secretary general/Chief Executive Officer, Michael Esakwa by CAF Marketing and Television director, Amr Shaheen, the continental body tersely reminded the national federation to respect their commercial and media rights.

This came after the broadcast wars over the game escalated last night between SuperSport International who have bought the rights to the game from SportFive; CAF’s marketing and communications agency and federation boss Sam Nyamweya.

“Any infringement to all or part of CAF TV rights and properties, notably in case of using the rights without a valid agreement signed with CAF or in case of improper usage of the rights in question, violates the competitions regulations and is liable to the disqualification of our team from the competition and to legal proceedings,” Shaheen’s letter dictates.

“Therefore, the contract concluded with StarTimes should not be valid for any of the CAF competitions and the preliminary rounds and the African Preliminaries of the FIFA World Cup 2018, knowing that CAF reserves the exclusive right to commercialize the rights in question,” he added.

“Despite the correspondences communicated to your federation on the 21st of April, 14th of May and the 1st of July, we were informed that FKF has recently signed a five-year contract with StarTimes for the competitions in which your national team is taking part.

“As per the contract, the deal should include all television rights for your national team until 2019. We also refer to the announcements made by FKF and StarTimes to broadcast the above mentioned match in the frame of the qualifiers of the Orange African Nations Championship, RWANDA 2016,” the communication from CAF stated.

-Approved by federations-

“We would also like to inform you that, reference to the letter sent by the CAF Secretary General on the 9th of August 2014 (attached) the decision of the CAF during the 36h CAF Ordinary General Assembly, which was approved by all national associations, your federation has thus accepted to be part of the pooling system for the FIFA World Cup 2018 African preliminaries,” the marketing director emphasised

“Once more we would like to remind you that, reference to our correspondence dated the 14th of May and in conformity to the provisions of articles 47 of the regulations of African Nations Championship, the television and publicity rights, of the matches of the first and second round of the preliminaries of the African Nations Championship as well as the final phase, belong to CAF and all marketing and television rights of the Orange African Nations Championship, RWANDA 2016 will directly and exclusively be commercialized by CAF.

“In case your Host Broadcaster has signed the form 5, concerning the TV production and transmission of the CHAN qualifiers matches, your national TV will be authorized to broadcast the home match on terrestrial basis only in the territory of Kenya and after CAF approval,” Shaheen stressed.

The federation maintained their blockade of Nyayo Stadium through Friday night with armed police guarding the facility under express instructions not to allow SuperSport crew in with the barricade still in force by the time of going to press in the morning of match day.

Should the standoff fail to get a last minute solution, Harambee Stars risk being expelled from Rwanda 2016 and the 2018 editions of the Africa Home Nation Championships that are Kenya are scheduled to host.

Further sanctions include expulsion from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations campaign where Kenya is pooled against Congo Brazzaville, Zambia and Guinea Bissau and even the running from the 2018 Russia World Cup should world body FIFA step into enforce the continental body’s punishment.

Capital Sport reliably learned SuperSport crew and outside broadcasting vans would press on with their plans to go to the stadium with the broadcast of the game in doubt.

The match is slated to kick-off at 3pm local time (+3GMT) where Kenya needs to overhaul a 2-0 deficit from the first leg to advance to the second round of preliminary qualifiers for 2016 Rwanda where Djibouti or Burundi await.

Harambee Stars fans in all cheer before yet another limp exit from international competition.

NAIROBI, July 4- A penalty taker who took matters into his own hands and missed, the broadcast rights war that overshadowed the match itself and another limp exit from a international competition, welcome to the muddled world of Kenyan football.

Harambee Stars turgid 0-0 home draw against Ethiopia’s Walia Ibex that saw them crash out unceremoniously from the running for a maiden 2016 Africa Home Nations Championships 2-0 on aggregate was another vexing reminder of all that is wrong in the local game.

The spiritless manner Stars ended their interest in the second tier CAF continental showpiece open to domestic talent is all the more annoying when you consider the players who took to the Nyayo Stadium turf are the best the country has to offer from the home front.

Unbeaten Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions, Gor Mahia, had six starters for example but against a group of players who are largely Ethiopia’s Under-23 team, the much vaunted local stars fell on the sword of their own hype.

The epitome of local stardom getting into their heads was Victor Ali Abondo, the top scoring K’Ogalo midfielder who defied head coach Bobby Williamson orders and elected to take the 65th minute penalty awarded in dubious fashion.

With Ibex keeper Tariq Getneb doing the best to unsettle the man who has plunged in eight KPL goals this season, Abondo, perhaps with headlines flashing in the whites of his eyes, took two languid steps back before crashing his shot to the right post. Chance gone!

He must have thought he was playing against Chemelil Sugar and Williamson was beside himself with boiling rage when he lamented post-match, “It’s disappointing. I told Dennis to take the penalties before the game but Ali felt confident to take it.”

He was alluding to Thika FC captain, Dennis Odhiambo, who was designated for spot-kick duty before Abondo took matters to his own hands.

At 2-1 on aggregate with 25 minutes remaining, Stars had a whiff of a chance of at least forcing the tie to post match penalties if not completing the turnaround but even his subsequent substitution could not inspire the fight back.

In Ethiopia, another KPL star, Kevin Kimani of Tusker FC was the culprit from the spot and Williamson was justified to believe if his side were lethal from 12-yards, then passage to the next round would have been the outcome, not another crushing exit.

Despite missing the few clear cut chances that came Stars way in a game Ibex took them to football school, Abondo was not the only local luminary who earned his stripes bar Gor’s Collins ‘Gattuso’ Okoth and his keeper club-mate, Boniface Odhiambo who came up with the goods when called upon.

Odhiambo made a breathtaking point blank second half save from Ibex captain, Behailu Asefa.

In form K’Ogalo striker, Michael Olunga, finally sagged under the huge pressure placed on his shoulders to replicate his club form on the continental stage when he had a game to forget, often fluffing his lines and failing to impose his presence on the match.

Again, the perils of placing too much weight on the feet of a young forward, 21, who has been elevated to an almost messianic pedestal by local media, were there for all to see.

You simply can’t trust a boy to do a man’s job, so the saying goes.

– Chronic failure-

With the pockets of ebullient Ethiopian fans chanting ‘M-Pesa, M-Pesa’ as they referenced the popular mobile money transfer service in mockery of what was visibly biased officiating against their side renting the air, Abondo and fellow flops should not bear the large chunk of the blame for yet another dispiriting exit from international competition.

The inept approach to international matches and shambolic preparations by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is a tired narrative that once again stunk out Nyayo Stadium with the putrid smell of failure.

With federation boss Sam Nyamweya receiving another earful of vocal unprintable insults laced with “Nyamweya must go! Nyamweya must go!” chants, it is incomprehensible to conceive how progress will be made under his guidance as he enters the final lap of his first term as president since the 2011 elections.

Under his watch, the country’s football continues to engage the reverse gear, much like the chosen style of play by Stars who were pressed high by Ibex on Saturday, with the sideshow of a bitter broadcast rights battle for the game the latest in his long curriculum vitae of shameless acts.

Instead of focusing on how Stars would overhaul a yawning 2-0 deficit from the first leg, all attention up to match day was on the tussle between FKF new media partners, StarTimes and South Africa’s SuperSport International.

One wonders had Nyamweya and his henchmen placed as much energy like hiring police officers to lock SuperSport crew from Nyayo to ensuring Williamson and his boys got all the support and confidence needed to complete a minor football miracle, then the final whistle would not have been greeted with the verbal revolt that followed him as he disappeared down to the bowels of Nyayo.

Attempting to crowbar all that ails Kenya’s football into one article is an impossible task akin to Harambee Stars qualifying to an international tournament in current form, so wallow in grief dear reader as the ink runs out on this piece.

Harambee Stars captain, Collins Okoth (foreground) shields the ball during their clash against Ethiopia at Nyayo Stadium. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, June 4- Gor Mahia midfielder, Ali Abondo missed a penalty as Harambee Stars crashed out of the 2016 CHAN qualifiers after visiting Ethiopia held them to a barren draw in the return leg played at Nairobi’s Nyayo National Stadium.

Stars bowed out 2-0 on aggregate with the first leg defeat proving enough to put the side out of the CHAN misery.

It was the second penalty Stars missed over both legs after tTusker FC midfielder Kevin Kimani saw his effort saved in Ethiopia.

Head coach Bobby Williamson, slammed his charges for failing to convert spot kicks that would have given his side hope of coming back to the tie.

“It’s disappointing we missed the penalty because I told Dennis Odhiambo to take them before the game and Abondo decided to take.

“He might have confidence but unfortunately he never scored. But that’s football; if you don’t take chances you don’t win games.

“It’s our fault that we are out because we created more chances than them. I give credit to our opposition, we didn’t get our long balls correct and we panicked in the box,” the deflated Williamson said after the match.

His opposite number, Johannes Sahle criticised match officials from Comoros.

“They were expecting us to seat back and defend the two goals but we wanted to attack, we tried to take the confidence away from them.

“We pressured them until they started playing long balls, our aim was to take the confidence away from the defenders and I think it worked,” he expressed as his players danced around him in joy.

Both sides made changes from the first-leg, with Williamson starting with Gor centre-backs, Musa Mohammed and Harun Shakava as well as left back Dennis Odhiambo for Lloyd Wahome, Jackson Saleh and Aboud Omar.

The hosts got off the mark after 12 minutes when Humphrey Mieno won a free-kick 30-yards from the box but unmarked Odhiambo failed to convert from a Kimani set-piece.

Moments later, Mieno squandered two opportunities when he hurriedly blazed wide in the first-half that wasn’t busy for home keeper, Boniface Oluoch who easily snuffed Ethiopia’s two goals on target.

The hosts got a chance to reduce the deficit when the referee awarded them an indirect-free kick in the box after keeper, Tarik Getnet cleared the ball after the six second rule elapsed but Kimani saw his poor set-piece blocked.

At the other end, Ethiopia wasted a glorious chance towards the breather when they broke through from the counter but skipper, Behailu Assefa blasted wide with only Oluoch to beat.

The Walia Ibex who made for changes began the second half on a high, forcing Oluoch to make a brilliant double save from Behailu.

Thereafter, Stars will blame themselves with Olunga failing to tap home in the 53rd, before Abondo wasted Mieno’s pass to shoot wide.

Tarik denied Jesse Were’s header two minutes later before Stars got a chance to come back in the game when Abondo was brought down in the box to win a contentious penalty.

Abondo, who has scored eight goals in the KPL stepped up but his poorly executed penalty hit the post with the keeper diving to the right direction.

Williamson withdrew him for Danson Kago but the penalty miss gave the visitors motivation as they continued to attack.

Despite the referee giving Stars most of the 50/50 decisions, Olunga and Kimani failed to find the back of the net as Williamson did his last substitutions pulling out Kimani and Edwin Wafula for Eric Johanna and winger Noah Wafula.

Johanna’s first touch was effective with his first touch nearly giving Stars the first goal only for Sahldin Bargecho to block it as the Walia Ibex held on to hold Williamson charges at their back yard and advance to the second round.

Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba celebrates after winning the women’s 5000m during the IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, outside Paris. PHOTO/AFP

PARIS, July 5- There was heartbreak for Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba who narrowly missed out on breaking her older sister Tirunesh’s world record in the women’s 5000m during Saturday’s IAAF Diamond League meet in Paris.

World champion, Eunice Sum, African champion, Jairus Birech and Worlds silver medallist, Silas Kiplagat claimed victories for Kenya in the women 800m, men 3000m steeplechase and men 1500m as the distance running giants stamped their mark in France.

Elsewhere, Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made up for the absence of injured Usain Bolt by storming to double 100m glory.

Former 100m world record holder Powell held his nerve to power through the line in 9.81 seconds, Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut equalling the European record of 9.86sec in second ahead of American Michael Rodgers (9.99).

“It was a great race and I got a good start!” beamed Powell. “I need to keep my focus and run fast like that.

“I saw Jimmy was close and I thought ‘wow’.”

Defending two-time Olympic 100m champion Fraser-Pryce is not doubling up at the world championships in Beijing, saying her coach Stephen Francis wanted to regain her explosive start.

That certainly did not hinder her at the Stade de France as she blasted to an impressive victory in 10.75sec, ahead of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor (10.80) and American English Gardner (10.97).

“When you have good runners you always run fast,” said Fraser-Pryce. “That’s the motivation for me.

“But I have room to improve in my technique and in the start.”

In a gripping 5000m, Dibaba and compatriot Almaz Ayana were glued together until the last lap when the former struck out.

But her efforts were to no avail as she fell an agonising 4.26sec short of her sister’s record of 14:11.15 set in Oslo in 2008.

There was the unusual sight in the women’s shot put of seeing double Olympic and four-time world champion Valerie Adams finishing off the podium in fifth, her first loss in almost five years breaking a 56-event winning streak.

The 30-year-old’s comeback from double surgery ended meekly with a foul, but she promised to be in shape for the Beijing worlds.

“I knew the winning streak was in danger and I lost it, but I do not feel that sorry. We can start again!” Adams said.

“With better execution, I will improve. There’s still a lot of time until Beijing.”

Another unlikely spectacle was watching American Evan Jager leading a strong field of Kenyans into the final bend of the men’s 3000m steeplechase, only to come a cropper on the final hurdle to allow Jairus Kipchoge Birech in in a world leading 7:58.83.

Jager still snagged an American record after scrambling back to his feet and finishing second (8:00.45), Kenya’s two-time Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi down in 11th.

“This is a wake-up call for Kenya,” hollered Birech. “We need to go back and train and be ready for Jager.”

Wayde Van Niekerk ran a fantastic men’s 400m, the 22-year-old South African shattering his personal best with an African record of 43.96sec to beat Grenada’s Olympic champion Kirani James (44.17) into second.

“Kirani is the guy who inspires me, so it’s something special that I was able to win,” said Van Niekerk. “I think it’s the start of something great for me.”

James, also 22, said he would go straight into full training for Beijing.

“This was my last race before the worlds,” he said. “It was a very competitive race and Wayde ran a very good one. But I’m satisfied with my season so far, I’m consistent enough.”

Reigning world, African and Commonwealth champion Eunice Sum continued her unbeaten year with a comprehensive victory in the women’s 800m in a world-leading 1:56.99.

And there was more Kenyan glory in the men’s 1500m, Silas Kiplagat kicking magnificently for home to win in 3:30.12, also the fastest time this season.

In the field, Qatari favourite Mutaz Essa Barshim could only finish fifth as Russian Daniil Tsyplakov (2.32m) beat off Bahamian Donald Thomas on countback.

Home hopes were then dashed when Renaud Lavillenie failed three times at 5.86m, Konstantinos Filippidis going on to win the pole vault in 5.91m.

And Lavillenie’s teammate Pascal Martinot-Lagarde flopped in the 100m hurdles, coming in fifth as Cuban Orlando Ortega stormed home in an impressive 12.94sec.

Kenya’s Kevin Kimani (r) vies for the ball against Ethiopia’s Zakarias Tuji during their CHAN clash at Nyayo. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, July 5 – At the end of what was a compelling script torn from the theatre of the absurd; SuperSport International won the harsh pay television broadcast war to air Saturday’s CHAN qualifier between Kenya and Ethiopia in Nairobi.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) with its president, Sam Keengu Nyamweya, taking the pilot seat, (mis)used their authority as the mandated national governing body to force through their new media partners, StarTimes to acquire the rights to the match.

However, an extraordinary sequence of events that lasted through Friday night into match day saw Confederation of African Football (CAF) swing into action, telling off Nyamweya for blatantly disregarding set broadcast rights rules to end the face-off in favour of SuperSport.

StarTimes, who had already set up their equipment and pitch side advertising hoardings, were forced to park their belongings and hightail from Nyayo red faced as FKF in a desperate face saving statement declared the conflict was just beginning.

Capital Sport managed to piece the chronology of another dark episode in Kenyan football that ultimately, left egg in Nyamweya’s face although he betrayed little remorse when he took his place as the boss of football at Nyayo, even exchanging niceties with SuperSport personnel as he conducted official pre-match duties.

It all started on Wednesday when FKF announced a USD5m (Sh500m approx) deal with StarTimes to air international friendly matches for all national teams and kitting the sides where Nyamweya fired the first salvo by proclaiming their new sponsors would also show the Stars v Ethiopia game to start off their five-year marriage in emphatic fashion.

The Chinese owned pay television firm wasted no time in buying out full-page adverts that started to appear in local dailies from Thursday to publicise the platform they would use to show the eagerly anticipated tie where Stars needed to overturn a 2-0 first leg deficit.

As published here http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/07/03/fkf-locks-supersport-out-of-nyayo/ the gloves finally came off on Friday when FKF enlisted armed policemen to cordon off all major entries to the stadium with express instructions to lock out SuperSport outside broadcast trucks and their crew from rigging up their cameras, interview the teams and put up their advertising material pitch side.

Soon, a letter from SportFive, CAF’s sole marketing and communication agents hit the newsroom as this link http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/07/03/we-have-the-rights-supersport-insist/ details, declaring in no uncertain terms SuperSport were the authorised broadcast right holders for the game.

In what was a deliberate move to resist what was seen by FKF and StarTimes as a poke in the eye by SuperSport, the national body and their partners held firm as the blockade continued.

Nyamweya, who spent the day in his native Kisii attending a funeral, leaving his CEO Michael Esakwa and media official, Milton Nyakundi to enforce the SuperSport lockdown with the police, returned to Nairobi later in the evening to take control.

Heated angry exchanges with SuperSport country bosses led by General Manager, Auka Gacheo and senior producer, Joey Mugweru and Nyamweya, his deputy Robert Asembo as well as Nyakundi among other FKF bureaucrats that spilled deep into the night, turned acrimonious, with the federation boss at one point almost turning violent.

-Rathbone wades in-

At the ringside seat, StarTimes through their Director of Sport, Gary Rathbone, a former SuperSport Head of Africa, took to social media to reinforce the federation’s position, adamant they would air the match.

“Supersport finally forced their way into the stadium using off duty cops.When the real cops arrived the fakers ran away. SS van back outside,” he had earlier tweeted on his official Twitter handle @thegaryrathbone at 2:23pm local time (+3GMT) on Friday.

The combatants retired for the night to get much needed rest for another bruising battle; with SuperSport managers directing designated crew to report to the stadium at 10am Saturday ready to either show the game or face the wrath of the law.

Before the crack of dawn, precisely 5am, the call came through to the SuperSport bosses that Nyamweya was backing down from his saddle and they would air the game.

“We were informed he had been reprimanded by CAF for refusing to heed their directives on the rights to air games of competitions organised by them, including CHAN, despite the correspondence between them and the federation,” Capital Sport was informed by a highly placed source at SuperSport.

However, they knew this was Nyamweya, a man known to be as slippery as an eel in his dealings and they could not start rolling out final arrangements yet, despite their trucks and part of their crew who held nightlong vigil being at Nyayo since the police hired to keep them out had ensconsed them to a corner.

StarTimes hoardings and equipment were inside the stadium as day broke with the stage set for one last frontline confrontation that had it come to pass, would have provided a grandstand finale as local media stood by to cover the battle royale.

Capital Sport was once again broke the news that CAF had threatened Kenya with expulsion from the next two editions of CHAN, including the 2018 finals set for the country if FKF and StarTimes did not back down and allow SuperSport to air the match as outlined here http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/07/04/caf-to-ban-kenya-if-startimes-show-stars-game/.

-Wario fury-

Sports, Arts and Culture Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Hassan Wario. PHOTO/File

Sports Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Hassan Wario who is out of the country then directed this website to Commissioner for Sport, Gordon Olouch, to give the Government’s stand as he expressed his rage at the matter that could have been resolved by following the letter had exposed the nation to a football ban.

When contacted, Oluoch told Capital Sport to give him time to contact FKF and soon after, came back with the end of the broadcast siege saying, “I’ve spoken to Nyamweya and he has told me everything is fine. He is meeting with SuperSport at Nyayo to resolve the issue and CAF wishes will be obeyed.”

Moments later, FKF Media released a statement that fell pitifully short of conceding defeat, instead, branding it as a ‘clarification’ whilst maintaining the war was far from over.

“Football Kenya Federation has clarified that pay-television giant; SuperSport will produce the match between Harambee Stars and Ethiopia on Saturday afternoon.

“The second leg match of the qualification campaign for next year’s African Nations Championships Rwanda 2016 has been the subject of a fierce tussle over the rights between the South Africa-based broadcaster and Harambee Stars media sponsor, StarTimes Media, who recently signed a five-year deal worth Sh500million,” it trumpeted.

“This agreement is for the purposes of the above-mentioned CHAN Qualification match but subsequently, we shall issue further directions on the matter once the process of nominating the Host Broadcaster is concluded,” it added.

Stung, StarTimes boss, Rathbone tweeted, “So Supersport back inside and taking over. CAF have made it clear that Nyamweya has been lying to us about the CHAN rights,” in raising the white flag.

He was not done, firing a number of online broadsides at his former employers writing, “Startimes may have lost out today, but long after Supersport have packed up and gone we’ll still be there for Kenyan national football,” upholding his line SuperSport had used their financial muscle to ward off their newest competitors for domestic football.

As Stars crashed out following a limp 0-0 draw against Walia Ibex, the curtain was brought down to the baseless standoff by cat calls, insults and calls for him to step down ringing in Nyamweya’s ears as he left the VIP dias after the game.

Michael Olunga shields the ball from Ethiopia’s Salhadin Bargecho (left) during their CHAN clash at Nyayo. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, July 6 – Nearly and what-might-have been is the tune Harambee Stars were left singing once again after a third successive Africa Home Nations Championships (CHAN) preliminary round exit as hope turned to the familiar feeling of despair.

If there is anything that best summed the thin margin between success and failure was the Ali Abondo missed penalty in the 64th minute that came off the post besides the home side fluffing other few chances which left the few fans that turned up at Nyayo National Stadium heartbroken.

It was the second penalty miss by the Kenyans after Ethiopia custodian Tarik Getnet rescued Tusker FC midfielder’s Kevin Kimani spot-kick in the first-leg.

Despite fielding much celebrated Kenyan Premier League (KPL) players and the visibly biased officiating in favour of the hosts; Ethiopia forced a barren draw to progress to the second round 2-0 on aggregate.

For the Walia Ibex, it was cold revenge against their traditional rivals who benefited from their 2011 withdrawal for Stars to earn a 3-0 walk-over to the second round where Uganda bundled them out on the away goals rule after the tie ended 2-2 on aggregate.

Head coach Bobby Williamson changed his first-leg 4-5-1 formation to the more attack minded 4-4-2, with six changes to his side.

KPL champions, Gor Mahia centre-backs Musa Mohammed and Harun Shakava joined Thika United left back Dennis Odhiambo on the first XI.

Ethiopia pressed their defence high and could have nicked a killer away goal early in the second half only for the largely untested keeper Boniface Oluoch to deny skipper, Behailu Assefa with a brilliant double save following a quick counter.

“If we could have scored the two penalties, we could have qualified but we are out. Before the match, I told Dennis (Odhiambo) to take penalties but I was disappointed to see Abondo take it but that’s football.

“They did well on the counter attack but our keeper was keen to keep us in the game. It was difficult for us because we created a lot of clear cut chances but never showed enough quality in the box,” frustrated, Williamson said after the match.

He added, “Credit to opposition they did well to close our full-backs. We couldn’t go for the ball and it saw us resort to long balls but (Michael) Olunga and (Jesse) Were panicked in the box. It didn’t fall for us.”

His opposite number, Johannes Sahle, slammed the match officials for poor officiating but was determined to better their 2014 performance where they bowed out at the group stages of the finals held in South Africa.

“They were expecting us to seat back and defend the two goals but we attacked. We pressured them and they started playing long balls, we also took confidence away from their defenders and it worked for us.

“I’m not happy with the referee, he made unnecessary calls, something that is not even in football rules but I thank the players because they handled it well,” the former St. George player lamented.

Captain, Collins Okoth was solid in the midfield but the ineffectiveness of his partner, Humphrey Mieno created space for Ethiopia’s Coffee FC midfielder, Gatouch Panom to dominate the centre Behailu always dangerous every time they broke.

This forced Williamson charges to play long with wingers Abondo from the right and Kevin Kimani on the opposite flank pinging the ball to the box and despite the award, sometimes in contentious fashion, of numerous free-kicks from dangerous positions, the pair found the wall of Row Z with their efforts.

Abondo failed to replicate his KPL form, squandering three clear cut chances that if converted, could have stunned a side ranked 24 places above them in the FIFA rankings.

Stars could have been up by a goal four minutes to the break when the referee from Comoros awarded them an indirect-free-kick inside the box, but Abondo who has scored nine goals for champions Gor found the wall instead of swinging in a cross for either Olunga or Were to nod home.

Abondo, the inaugural Sport-Pesa Sports Journalist Monthly Award winner completed hos horror show when he lazily took a spot-kick that hit the right side of the post with Ibex keeper Getneb diving to the right direction.

That demoralised the player who had not missed a penalty this season with Williamson pulling him out for Tusker FC’s new man Danson Kago who also failed to leave up to the coach’s expectations.

Kago’s substitution was meant to see him man the right wing and curl in crosses but instead the midfielder decided to play deep inside which exposed right-back Edwin Wafula.

In form K’Ogalo striker, Olunga, sagged under the huge pressure placed on his shoulders to replicate his club form on the continental stage when he failed to prove a point and make amends after wasting chances in Ethiopia.

Olunga only had a single shot on target that was well dealt with the keeper.

The disappointing elimination saw the fans direct their anger to FKF president, Sam Nyamweya who was in the podium with “Nyamweya must go! Nyamweya must go! Nyamweya must go!” chants renting the air as sign that they are not happy with his leadership since he was elected in 2011.

The embarrassing exit by an Ethiopian side that featured their Under-23’s came almost a year before the national team was bundled out of the 2015 AFCON qualifiers at the pre-qualifiers stage by minnows Lesotho at the same venue.

Stars who are scheduled to host 2018 CHAN have never gone past the second round of the home based players tournament.

Esther Wangechi (left) rises for a shot against Algeria on Sunday. PHOTO/FIVB

NAIROBI, July 6- History was made when Kenya Prison’s attacker, Mercy Moim scored a massive 26 points to inspire the national women’s volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over bitter foes and hosts Algeria to qualify for the second round of the ongoing FIVB World Grand.

It was the first time for the volley queens now christened Malkia Strikers to make the next stage of an international tournament on their second campaign in the competition.

Strikers rallied from a set down to clinch victory to top Pool Q’s second-leg on nine points and finish third in overall standings behind winners Colombia and second placed Peru in Group 3.

Kenya edged the five set thriller (20-25, 25-15, 23-25, 25-13, and 15-13) on Sunday with Moim who struck 19 against Australia standing tall for her side once again with four blocks and three aces in her personal tally.

The African queens eased past Mexico and Australia by straight sets to better their first-leg performance in Mexico where they only won a single match against the hosts also by 3-2.

David Lung’aho charges will be seeking to carry their good form to the Group finals that get underway in Canberra, Australia from July 10 to 12.

With Kenya having not beaten Algeria in their backyard, Lung’aho heaped praise on the record nine-time Africa champions, saying they had come of age.

“It’s amazing to see players extend their winning ways from Kenya to Algeria. Fresh from beating them (Algeria) in the Africa Nation Championship, the players proved again that they are a force to reckon in Africa by hitting them here.

“After winning only one match in Mexico, they made amends and recorded three wins. As a coach I’m very proud of them and generally, it also speaks volume of my career as coach and I’m proud to be part of the team that made history by winning against the archrivals who were celebrating their independence day,” the tactician who doubles up as Prisons head coach alluded.

He added, “Our objective was to qualify for the final round. I’m happy that the teams we will play in the final round are familiar opponents who we have played in the recent matches and therefore we will take one match at time and hope to post good results.”

Skipper Brackcides Khadambi weighed in with 16 with 10 from Ruth Jepng’etich included seven of Kenya’s 20 blocks.

Algeria twice went ahead but Kenya responded emphatically, taking the second set 25-15 and the fourth 25-13, which sent the match to a tiebreaker with Algeria keeping in touch to 9-9 and even 11-12 but Kenya pulled away when it counted for their third win in the pool.

“God healed me and gave strength to join my team as we played against Algeria yesterday. We won 3-2…I thank you my God. I’ve seen your mighty hand,” Wanja, the Kenya Pipeline setter, wrote on his Facebook page.

Kenya who played the second-leg without their veteran setter, Janet Wanja who fell ill, bettered their debut performance last year where they recorded three wins.

Kenneth Mungara breaks the tape at Gold Coast Marathon. PHOTO/Organisers-IAAF

GOLD COAST, July 7- Kenneth Mungara once again broke the world masters record in the marathon when he pulled away from compatriots Silah Limo and Evans Ruto over the last two kilometres to win the Gold Coast Airport Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday.

The 41-year-old, a barber in an earlier lifetime, reverted to type giving a close shave to the world M40 masters record, his winning time of 2:08:42 taking two seconds off the mark he set in Milan earlier this year.

But it was an old-fashioned short-back-and-sides for the race and Australian all-comers’ records set by Limo last year as Mungara slashed 32 seconds off those marks.

After no improvement for 32 years on Robert de Castella’s 2:09:18 from the Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, the fastest on Australian soil has now been revised twice in two years.

Like rush-hour buses it seems, there can be a long wait for a record and then they come along two at a time.

The pace in the leading group in the men’s marathon was always ambitious, the leaders reaching half way in 1:03:48.

Mungara, Limo and Ruto were always with the lead pack which, at this stage, also included Eritrea’s Tewelde Hidru, Kenya’s Dominic Kimwetich and Tanzanian marathon debutant Alphonce Simbu.

Through to 35km it was always Hidru or then Ruto and Limo who showed in the lead, with Mungara dropping back on some of the surges but always in contact. Simbu and Kimwetich had fallen back.

Mungara said the leading group had worked hard together. “When you go alone early, you can’t make it.

“I was just waiting to make my move. I felt very comfortable I could get this time and was extremely relaxed. You have to focus on yourself, even if they’re pushing each other.”

Only nearing 40km, after the leaders had made the final turn and headed back to the finish at Southport, did Mungara show in the lead.

At the 40km checkpoint (2:02:01) he had forged a mini-break of two seconds to Ruto with Limo a further second back. The margin grew to 12 seconds by the finish line, which Mungara reached clear in 2:08:42.

Mungara saw the clock coming to the finish line and knew his masters world record was within his reach. “I saw the time and thought ‘I have to get it’ and I kept going,” he said.

His first target had been the race record. “I was targeting the Gold Coast Airport Marathon record and the (weather) forecast and track helped.

“I know I can go faster again in the future and will keep training hard. When you run at this age, you have to plan ahead and keep working,” he said.

De Castella and Steve Moneghetti, Australia’s two fastest male marathon runners, were present to witness Mungara’s performance yesterday, as was Australia’s fastest female, Benita Willis.

All three are ambassadors for the Gold Coast race, along with two other distinguished Australian performers in four-time Gold Coast winner Pat Carroll and Lee Troop.

The top three finishers bettered the previous Australian all-comers’ record set by Limo in last year’s race.

In a neat statistical coincidence, 12 seconds was also the margin between de Castella and Tanzania’s Juma Ikangaa when they ran the fastest two times on Australian soil in the 1982 Commonwealth marathon.

In fourth place, Hidru was also under 2:10 with a personal best 2:09:33. Kimwetich was fifth in 2:11:51 and Hidru capped a fine debut with a 2:12:01.

Asbel Kiprop in Doha. PHOTO/File

NAIROBI, July 7- World champion, Asbel Kiprop and Africa record holder, Julius Yego are among the Kenyan titans confirmed for the glittering Herculis IAAF Diamond League meet in Monaco on July 17.

Commonwealth and Africa titleholder, Caleb Ndiku Mwangangi who is in line to make his eagerly awaited season debut on Thursday after a long injury lay-off is also penned for the men 3000m at the French principality that has stacked fields as usual.

Monaco is one of the favourite stops for Kiprop, the 2011 and 13 world champion in the men’s metric mile and he usually uses the event to lay a marker ahead of major events with the biennial IAAF track and field showpiece running in Beijing next month.

His top three career 1500m times including his smoking 3:27.72 lifetime best were ran at the Herculis meet and the lanky champion will be raring to put on a show at his favourite track having boosted his confidence with a storming 3:51.45 victory over the Mile at the 11 June Bislett Games in Oslo.

There Kiprop, 26, proved his class over a loaded field where he turned the tables on Djibouti archrival Ayanleh Souleiman, who stunned him to both the Continental and African titles last season, relegating him to fourth.

A superior performance at the track where his much-advertised world record bid fell apart to fierce domestic rival and Worlds silver medallist, Silas Kiplagat, will go a long way to underline his credentials for Beijing as he bids to be the first Kenyan to three-peat as world 1500m champion.

Kiprop still ran his season’s best and second fastest career 1500m when he clocked 3:28.45 to Kiplagat’s barnstorming personal best 3:27.64 that was the season’s world lead time.

In 2012, the Daegu and Moscow titleholder finally broke the 3:30 barrier when he won in 3:28.88, before a hamstring injury suffered shortly afterwards robbed him of the chance to successfully defend his Olympics title at that summer’s Games in London.

British double Olympics and world champion, Mo Farah leads the challengers to the favoured Kiprop alongside Commonwealth champion and compatriot, James Kiplagat Magut, New Zealand veteran Nick Willis as well as American dangerous pair Leo Manzano and Matthew Centrowitz.

Former World junior silver medallist and African bronze winner over 800m, Jackson Kivuva, will try out the longer distance as he retraces his footsteps back to the sport following a lengthy lay-off.

-Yego back to business-

Julius Yego in action in Birmingham. Photo/IAAF

Having revelled in a stately welcome following his astonishing 91.93 African record breaking performance in Birmingham, Javelin star Julius Yego is also part of the stellar cast in Monaco where he will check in after making a stop in Lausanne on Thursday.

The Commonwealth and two-time African champion who is keen to make history by becoming the first Kenyan to medal in the field at the Beijing Worlds will face a similar field to the one in Switzerland at the 10th Diamond League event of 2015.

Olympic champion, Kershorn Walcott from Bahamas, World titleholder, Vítězslav Veselý, Finnish star and former World champion, Tero Pitkamaki as well as the man he deposed as Africa record holder, Egypt’s Ihab Abdelrahman are the men for Yego to beat in Monaco.

Flamboyant Caleb Ndiku Mwangangi who swept to five major honours last season is keen to make up for lost time with the ‘buffalo’ missing the start of the campaign as he regained his fitness from knee surgery.

He will mix it down in the men 3000m competition against the formidable opposition that will give him a fair look into his form in his quest to make Kenya’s Beijing Worlds team at the killer July 31 and August 1 Trials.

Veteran 2012 Olympics bronze medallist, Thomas Longosiwa who is on a purple perch this term, World bronze winner, Isaiah Kiplangat Koech, Edwin Soi who won the third medal at the 2008 Olympics besides America-based livewire, Edward Cheserek complete the imposing Kenyan charge in the race.

Ethiopian pair Muktar Idris who has sparkled in 2015 and Imane Merga are undoubtedly the main threats to their northern rivals with American Ben True the gifted rank outsider.

World Junior and Youth champion, Alfred Kipketer who has thus far failed to live up to his immense promise in his first season as a senior has the formbook against him when he lines up against world champion, Mohammed Aman from Ethiopia and Commonwealth gold medallist, Botswana’s Nijel Amos in the men’s 800m showdown.

Ferguson Rotich, the 2013 Worlds finalist is the other Kenyan in the race expected to be a straight shootout between Aman and Amos with Poland stars, Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski the dark horses.

-Nyambura returns-

Virginia Nyambura (left) and Ethiopia’s Hiwot Ayalew in the women 3000m steeplechase race at IAAF Diamond League meeting in Doha on Friday.

After being denied entry for the New York round over visa issues, women 3000m steeplechase sensation, Virgina Nyambura is locked in for Monaco after returning to the circuit in Lausanne on Thursday.

The Diamond Race leader who won in Doha and Birmingham in between finishing second in Rome will renew rivalries with compatriots Hyvin Kiyeng, Worlds silver medallist Lidya Chepkurui and Ann Gathoni besides Ethiopian trio, Birtukan Fente, Sofia Assefa and Hiwot Ayalew.

Nancy Chepkemoi will plough the lone Kenyan furrow in the women 1500m.

Paul Were trains with Harambee Stars on Friday. PHOTO/Courtesy

NAIROBI, June 7 – Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have intervened to have winger Paul Were play for Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia as the former AFC Leopards star’s extended wait to feature for his new club continues.

Were was snapped-up by K’Ogalo on KPL transfer deadline day but he is yet to get clearance to take on to the field having also missed Saturday’s CHAN qualifier for Harambee Stars due to complications with securing his International Transfer Certificate (ITC).

The national federation has subsequently appealed to world body FIFA’s Players Status Committee for the release of the ITC from relegated South Africa’s Premier Soccer League side Amazulu.

Were, who penned a six-month deal on the night of the June transfer deadline day, is ineligible to play for the back-to-back KPL champions until the world governing body resolves the matter.

Gor assistant Secretary General, Ronald Ngala told Capital Sport the federation is to blame since they requested the ITC late despite the club having applied immediately after Were agreed terms on June 30.

“The matter is now being handled by FIFA’s Players Status Committee who will either decide to give him (Were) a provisional ITC or decline to issue him with one.

“If they say no, that means he will not be eligible to play in Kenya but can play in South Africa since the transfer window is still open. Amazulu indicated they would release him but they delayed issuing him the letter which they did on June 26,” Ngala told on Tuesday.

“He (Were) also took time in making up his mind before we applied for the ITC that required his approval,” he added.

The speedy winger, who is training with K’Ogalo, mutually ended his three-year contract with Amazulu becoming a free agent after securing the move from Leopards.

Head coach, Frank Nuttall who was looking forward to work with the attacking midfielder will however, field striker Enoch Agwanda whom they acquired from KPL rivals Sofapaka when they host Thika United at Nairobi City Stadium on Wednesday.

Were, was in Stars head coach Bobby Williamson’s plan for 2016 CHAN return-leg clash against Ethiopia before being dropped from the squad that was bundled out at the preliminary round after failing to get the ITC.

He joined Gor a fortnight after scoring the opener in Stars 1-1 draw 2017 Afcon qualifier away to Congo Brazzaville.

This is not the first time unbeaten K’Ogalo are having issues with ITC.

In April last year, they were forced to sideline former Harambee Stars winger, Patrick Oboya from their squad after FIFA threatened to impose sanctions on them for irregular signing of the player who was released at the beginning of the season.

Meanwhile, the club has announced tickets for their Thika match will cost Sh600 for VIP and Sh300 for terraces reflecting a hike in the prices.

The champions who are unbeaten in 16 welcome the tricky side who are seventh who are on a high after flooring archrivals Leopards 1-0 in a tempestuous home encounter where police were forced to lob teargas and fire live bullets to quell rioting fans in violence that spilled from Thika Sub-County Stadium to the streets to the town.

Sofapaka players in a previous KPL clash. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, June 7 – GOtv Shield champions, Sofapaka trimmed champions Gor Mahia’s lead at the top to nine points after stopping Chemelil Sugar 1-0 in a Kenyan Premier League clash at Nakuru’s Afraha Stadium on Tuesday.

Ugandan, Herman Wasswa, scored the winner at the half hour mark to open his account since joining the 2009 champions in mid-season from Kampala Capital City Authority FC.

For Chemelil, the defeat piled more misery on head coach, Mike Mururi who stretched his winless run to seven successive matches to inch closer to the relegation zone on 15.

Head coach, Sam Timbe, who returned to the dugout after missing their opening second-leg win against Western Stima, started with six new signing with Patrick Mugendi relegating skipper Felly Mulumba to the bench.

A fairly balanced first-half saw Chemelil who were seeking to bounce back from Gor’s 4-1 thrashing, forced Sofapaka keeper David Okello to make an early save when he parried Alloys Mangi’s shot for a fruitless corner.

The Sugar Millers pressured Sofapaka but Mururi charges failed to create chances to trouble Okello.

The visitors made good use of their only chance on target at the half-hour mark when Wasswa nodded home from a corner kick for the opener.

Chemelil had the chance to restore parity on the stroke of half-time but Joshua Oyoo saw his set-piece rattle the woodwork.

Mururi withdrew David Ojuang for Dennis Onkangi while Timbe introduced Erastus Mwaniki for Fuadi Ndayisenga on the restart in search of more goals but none of them made the difference.

The Ugandan did his last substitutions pulling out veteran John Baraza and Wycliffe Opondo for Ekaliani Ndolo and Ezekiel Odera.

The changes nearly yielded fruit when Ndolo intercepted a pass from the midfield to find space and shoot but keeper Fredrick Onyango repelled the ferocious effort.

Onkangi fluffed a late chance that could have salvaged a point, when he received Oyoo’s cut in from a counter attack, only for the striker to send his feeble finish wide from close range.

The league continues on Wednesday with K’Ogalo seeking to restore their 12 point lead at the summit when their unbeaten run will be put to test by plucky Thika United at Nairobi City Stadium.

Other fixtures will see wounded AFC Leopards invite KCB at Nyayo National Stadium, Tusker FC travel to Ulinzi Stars while Western Stima take on Mathare United at Moi’s Kisumu Stadium.

Bandari will be at home in Mombasa against Ushuru, Muhoroni Youth welcome Sony Sugar as bottom sides Nakuru All Stars and City Stars battle it out at Afraha Stadium.

Kenya Under-19s Chipu in action at the Youth Olympics Games in Nanjing, China in 2014. PHOTO/File

NAIROBI, July 8 – Kenya Under-19 rugby team’s dreams of featuring in the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa were tossed out of the window after their slot was taken up by another team.

In a sequence of sorry events, Kenya Rugby Union (KRU), National Olympics Committee-Kenya (Nock) and the Government are blaming each other in explaining how the aspirations of the side christened Chipu, were dumped from the competition in cruel fashion.

Kenya were replaced in the YCG following a letter written by an official in the Ministry of Sports stating the country would not be attending this year’s games.

This delivered the shattering blow to the team that was invited to the competition ahead of continental giants, South Africa, after recent seasons of success in the shorter version of the game, including back-to-back Rugby World Cup Sevens semifinals in 2009 Dubai and 2013 in Moscow.

Kenya was among only eight countries’s scheduled to vie for honors at the Samoa Games in September.

Speaking to Capital Sport, the Under 19s head coach, Paul Odera, decried the missed opportunity saying it would be difficult to raise the spirits of the affected players.

“One must think about how the Government has set aside billions of shillings for rugby stadiums but yet cannot send a youthful side to Samoa to fulfill their dreams.

“This fateful decision could even affect them in other areas of life as well as their rugby careers. Their parents are equally disappointed,” the former Kenya international lamented.

National Olympics Committee-Kenya (Nock) Executive Officer, Stephen Soi further confirmed the decision to lock out the Kenyan team was irreversible despite efforts to appeal.

“After the Commonwealth Games Foundation received the letter, they immediately offered the slot that was given to Kenya to another nation who happily accepted and confirmed they would attend the event.

“As Nock, we had no choice but to accept our rugby team could not go to Samoa and we are preparing those that are,” Soi who was the CEO of Kenya’s team to the 2012 London Olympics added.

On his part, Commissioner for Sports, Gordon Oluoch admitted budgetary constraints enforced the decisions with the forthcoming African Games (formerly All Africa Games) having taken the huge chunk of fiscal funding available for national teams.

“As you are aware, Kenya sends the largest contingent to the African Games and this year’s Congo Brazzaville edition is round the corner. Kenya Rugby Union had no other source of financing to support the team.

“When federations approach us for assistance, we evaluate their requests based on what is available, we can’t promise to send out a team and there is no money to do it.

“Federations like Athletics Kenya for example, come in with their sponsors and our work is to supplement what they have and we have seen them send teams to every event they are invited. KRU should consider the same approach,” Oluoch who is a keen rugby enthusiast, explained.

KRU were requesting full costs to cover the team including local and overseas allowances, air fare, accommodation and related expenses for the players, technical and medical staff.

There being no assurances the affected Under 19 side would secure additional funding outside State sources, the decision to write the letter withdrawing from the CYG was written.

Kenya did appeal the decision but to their dismay, it was too late as their replacements had confirmed their participation.

As the shattered youngsters attempt to collect the pieces from their heartbreak, another rendition of tired blame games provides no direct answers to where a solution lies.

It’s another blow to KRU that in April lost main sponsors Safaricom and Bamburi Cement in quick succession over claims of financial impropriety where one wonders whether the embarrassing situation would have been averted had they been on board.

Unless there is an upturn in management of the sport, rugby will continue bleeding from lack of resources with the possibilities of cutting short budding careers.

Eliud Kipchoge wins the London Marathon in April. PHOTO/File

NAIROBI, July 9- Kenyan marathon sensation Eliud Kipchoge says breaking the world record would not be a priority when he competes in the Berlin Marathon in September.

Having won the London marathon in April, the 30-year-old former 5,000m world outdoor champion believes winning in Berlin would help build his impressive reputation as a marathon runner.

Kipchoge will lead two other experienced Kenyans in the September 27 race, including Emmanuel Mutai, who finished second behind Dennis Kimetto when he set the new world record of 2:03.23 in Berlin last year.

“I have been privileged to train with both Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Mutai, since I switched to marathon running,” Kipchoge, who was runner-up in Berlin in 2013, told AFP.

“The fact that we will be competing against each other in Berlin this time round doesn’t mean we will not go hard on each another. But for me I will prefer to run my own race and see what happens.

“Dennis Kimetto’s world record would be hard to break so soon, but everything is possible if the conditions are right and people are prepared for the task,” said Kipchoge

“I wouldn’t say anything about breaking the world record. It will depend on how one feels on the day,” said Emmanuel Mutai.

Kipchoge and the two Mutais have had experiences with the fast Berlin course and have all stood on the winners’ podium.

Kipchoge was second with a personal best time of 2:04.05 in 2013, behind fellow countryman, Wilson Kipsang, who set a world record (2:03:23)

Last year, Emmanuel Mutai did all the running before he was pipped into second place by Kimetto, and Geoffrey Mutai, who four years ago ran the classic distance faster than any other runner on the Boston course, was runner-up in 2010 and won in 2012.

“We are delighted to have these three runners at the start, and with their qualifications, we can certainly look forward to an exciting race,” says Berlin Race Director Mark Milde.

Kipchoge won four of the five races that he has run in his short but impressive marathon career.

Harambee Stars captain, Collins Okoth (foreground) shields the ball during their clash against Ethiopia at Nyayo Stadium. PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya

NAIROBI, July 9- For the umpteenth time, Kenyan football is at crossroads; staring at the abyss as escalating wars among stakeholders edge towards a tragic conclusion.

Accusations, counter-accusations, twisting of facts and ugly bare knuckled confrontations have polluted sports pages, bulletins, websites, blogs and other forums where the sport is key fodder in recent weeks.

The crushing early exit of national team Harambee Stars from the 2016 Africa Home Nations Championships, Gor Mahia’s participation at the forthcoming Cecafa Kagame Cup and impending Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections are the latest battle fronts for the trigger happy adversaries out to gain capital.

Football journalists are caught in the middle of the crossfire, struggling to present to the public an accurate picture of who is fooling who, with some sucked dangerously in the muck by taking hard line positions perpetuated by real or perceived pay-masters.

Social media, the growing tool of mass communication, has also emerged as the centrepiece of the wars, with unchecked, almost minute by minute blows of the dirty exchanges dominating timelines on Facebook, Twitter and other online media.

The chief combatants are FKF and league management body, Kenyan Premier League (KPL) in a battle that has dragged companies that have taken the risk to invest hundreds of millions in a tattered game that still retains soaring popularity.

At the moment, Kenya is ranked 109 in the list of football nations, with domestic clubs struggling to leave their footprint in continental and regional football, a sad state of affairs considering the rich talent the country boasts of.

Harambee Stars last dined among the 16-finalists of Africa Cup of Nations in 2004, a generation ago and soon afterwards, Kenyan football degenerated to a farce as a brutal battle to run the national body saw the nation banned twice by world body FIFA.

Two rival national bodies and parallel top flights allied to Football Kenya Limited and Kenya Football Federation made a toxic mix that shamed a nation and the world.

In 2007, KPL was formed as top flight clubs, disillusioned by the madness, came together to establish a professionally run league and soon, improvement was there for all to see as much-suffering players got a chance to make a living from the sport.

Before the advent of Facebook and Twitter, journalists serving in the era of typewriters and floppy diskettes recall when covering a top flight game apart from the Kenya derby of Gor Mahia or AFC Leopards used to be punishment.

With hardly no fans or enough players for the teams to field, watching a game for example between Re Union and Nzoia Sugar (both defunct), used to be an eyesore, bore fest or even nauseating.

There were no live games, double headers or local heroes to talk about and credit to companies such as Tusker, Chemelil Sugar, Sony Sugar, Kenya Commercial Bank and military outfit, Ulinzi Stars who managed to stick with the sport when others including and not limited to Nzoia, Mumias Sugar, Eldoret KCC, Rivatex and Bata  abandoned ship.

It was in this dark decade that local community giants, Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards and Shabana FC flirted with or got relegated, unable to survive on handouts from benevolent chairmen or political benefactors.

The Fifa and Government brokered unified elections of 2011 that swept Sam Nyamweya to power as the president of the national body; renamed FKF, offered hope the cycle of ruin would be broken.

 – Victory speech-

During his victory speech on the night of October 28, 2011 Nyamweya pledged to work with all stakeholders, including SuperSport International who had come in to invest heavily in KPL in 2008 to free Kenyan football from the shackles of under performance and poverty.

However, as he enters the homestretch of his first term, Kenyan football continues to take two steps forward and three steps back, leaving the nation still stuck in a rut.

There is nothing much to show in his stock apart from the controversial 2013 victory at the Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup Kenya hosted where it was not lost Stars got a huge helping hand from officials to say the least.

Frustrated investors have found working with his federation where it is widely acknowledged he rules by the thumb difficult and strenuous.

This year, two major partners with millions of dollars to invest in the game, marketing firm MP&Silva and now pay television firm StarTimes have called for re-negotiation of their agreements with FKF.

This is due to misrepresentation on the part of the federation where they poured money on a product the national body could not deliver as agreed.

MP&Silva wanted to manage a portfolio that included marketing and broadcast contracts of the top flight league only to land with a competition that is second tier in all but name with KPL clubs having already entered agreement with SuperSport International.

The France based firm were pitched documents that showed majority of KPL clubs, including prized giants Gor and Leopards had signed on to agree to move to an FKF branded Premier League but it turned out untrue.

StarTimes were led on they would air Stars v Ethiopia CHAN game against among the properties they acquired in agreeing to sponsor all national teams but despite correspondence from CAF; FKF maintained the ruse until match day when their partners were eventually forced out of Nyayo Stadium.

It is ironic FKF went to such lengths as hiring police to keep out SuperSport from the stadium yet they partner with them for the GOTv Shield.

KPL should not escape scrutiny with the top flight seemingly sitting in the comfort zone of having what the respected UK publication Guardian termed as “a model example of a competition working in Africa in a continent riddled with football madness.”

Ethiopia gave another bitter reminder what they parade as their best cannot match up to regional neighbours, with the laboured display of players turning in awesome performances on home soil week in, week out failing to find a way, even from the spot twice, past a largely Under 23 side.

Kenyans are yet to see the fruits of costly SuperSport sponsored visits to sturdy the German Bundesliga by top KPL officials whilst coaching and officiating still remain substandard in the 16-teams competition, with players lacking basic football skills.

Incidentally, both parties claim they are working for the interests of Kenyan football yet results don’t lie, the country is fast receding from of the view of established nations.

The Government which played such a crucial role in harmonising the situation pre-2011 has abandoned the game to rot, with sitting Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Sports, Dr. Hassan Wario remaining aloof under the cover of establishing bodies such as Sports Kenya or implementation of the Sports Act as remedies.

With no one to check the excess of feuding administrators, the funeral rites for Kenyan football will soon be read with an entire generation of talented youth left with a useless corpse and shattered dreams.

Disgraced US former FIFA Ex-co member, Chuck Blazer. PHOTO/File

ZURICH, June 9- FIFA on Thursday banned for life Chuck Blazer, a central figure in the corruption scandal that has engulfed world football, for taking millions of dollars in bribes.

“Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF,” said a statement announcing the ban from all football-related activities.

“In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes.”

The one-time powerbroker of North American football is a former ally of FIFA leader Sepp Blatter who has agreed to step down because of controversy over US and Swiss investigations into the world body and World Cup tournaments.

Blazer, 70, has given evidence to US authorities investigating football corruption and is gravely ill in a New York hospital suffering from cancer.

Blazer has acknowledged to US investigators that he took more than $11 million in bribes from 2005 to 2010.

Media reports say he gained substantially more during his time running the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF.

Blazer was CONCACAF general secretary from 1990 until 2011 when he was forced to step down. He was also a FIFA executive committee member from 1996 to 2013 and a vice president of the US Soccer Federation.

As part of his deal with the US authorities he has agreed not to oppose any ban imposed on him by FIFA or any other football governing body.

Blazer has pleaded guilty to 10 counts, including racketeering, tax evasion, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.

As a FIFA official he influenced the award of World Cup tournaments. And he has admitted to US investigators that he took bribes.

– ‘Mr Ten Percent’ –

As the powerbroker of US soccer he travelled by private jet, kept two multi-million-dollar apartments in New York — one reportedly for the use of his cats — and a home in the Bahamas.

Behind his back, he was known as “Mr Ten Percent,” a nod to the kickbacks on which he allegedly insisted.

Now wheelchair-bound, he formally pleaded guilty at a closed-door court hearing in Brooklyn in November 2013 — one of four people to plead guilty as part of the sweeping US investigation.

Since then the US Justice Department has stunned FIFA by targeting a coterie of top officials from the Americas as part of the probe.

Seven FIFA officials were detained in a raid on a Zurich hotel on the eve of a FIFA congress at which Blatter won reelection.

The seven are now fighting extradition to the United States and are among 14 new figures facing charges as part of the same inquiry which snared Blazer.

In parallel, Swiss authorities are investigating the attribution of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. Amid corruption allegations, both countries have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Mo Farah of Great Britain leads the pack during the 10,000m event, on day one of the IAAF Diamond League Prefontaine Classic, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.

LAUSANNE, July 9 – Reigning Olympic and double world champion Mo Farah dominated the 5000m at the Lausanne Diamond League on Thursday in his first outing since doping allegations against his coach Alberto Salazar.

Farah kicked back on the final lap from 80 metres out to beat a high-quality field featuring five of the top six in the world rankings this year.

The 32-year-old Farah, who is also current Olympic and world 10,000m champion, clocked a meeting record of 13min 11.77sec, with Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha in second (13:12.59).

“This is what I work for, the crowd were great,” beamed Farah after his first outing over 5,000m this season and his first race in six weeks after he pulled out of the Birmingham Diamond League meet in early June to return to his US training base to confront Salazar over doping allegations.

Claims made by BBC Panorama and US investigative website ProPublica alleged that Salazar violated several anti-doping rules, which the Cuban-born American distance running coach has thoroughly refuted.

The documentary alleged that Salazar violated doping rules by administering testosterone to American distance runner Galen Rupp in 2002 when Rupp — a training partner of Farah — was only 16, and encouraging misuse of prescription drugs.

Farah was not implicated for any wrongdoing, insists he is “100 percent clean” and has welcomed subsequent probes by both the British and US anti-doping agencies to help clear his name.

On the track, Kenyan Ismael Kombich set off at a cracking pace, Farah settling in the following pack which had quickly stretched.

A second Kenyan hare, Geoffrey Barusei, took over with eight-and-a-half laps to go, carrying on the unrelenting rhythm before a vocal crowd at Lausanne’s Stade de la Pontaise in balmy conditions.

Farah took the lead with three laps to go, looking very comfortable as a peloton of six broke clear.

The Somali-born Briton hugged the inside line as the bell sounded, but Kejelcha broke with 300m to go. But it was not to last.

Farah kicked back and purred past Kejelcha from 80 metres out, waving exultantly at the crowd in what was an emotional finish, before doing his trademark ‘Mobot’.

Farah will now head to Monaco where he will race 1500m, having famously set a new European record over the distance in his last outing in the Principality in 2013, just before the Moscow worlds when he struck double 5000/10,000m gold.