Football Kenya Federation has announced that Tuesday’s Africa Cup of Nation qualifier pitting Kenya women’s national team and their Algerian opponents will not attract any gate charges.

The match scheduled for April 12 is poised to kick-off from 4pm and will be played at the 60, 000 capacity Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.

The return leg match offers Kenya’s national women’s team - commonly referred to as the starlets - with a realistic chance to qualify for the continent’s premier tourney for the first time.

The team held Algeria to a 2-2 draw during the first leg match played in Algiers. The starlets require a win or either a 0-0, 1-1 draws to join seven other teams that will grace the 12th edition that will be held in Cameroon from November 19 to December 3.

Federation of Kenya Football Secretary CEO, Robert Muthomi said the decision was made to give the team much needed support and the women’s game. “We are on the brink of great result that will propel our women’s team to make a debut at the continent’s top tournament.

“A positive result will spur the development of the game in the country hence the need for our fans to turn out in large numbers and offer much needed support.”

The Algerian women’s team arrived on Sunday.

Kenya Sevens team picked 10 points from Hong Kong leg after going down 33-0 to England in the plate semi-finals. Kenya remain placed eighth in the IRB rankings with 60 points after seven legs.

Earlier on, Kenya lost 12-10 to Fiji in the Main Cup quarter finals. Both sides had settled for a barren draw in the first half before Fiji made a breakthrough in the second half through Kitione Taliga. Kenya responded through the ever green Collins Injera after kicking the ball and making a successful chase to give Kenya a 7-5 lead following Samuel Oliech’s successful conversion. Kenya were momentarily in control of the match and Injera gave them a 10-5 lead after they were awarded penalty in front of posts.

However, the troublesome Savenaca Rawaca made no mistake as he raced past debutant Alvin Otieno to touch down at stoppage time. Osea Kolinisau made a successful conversion to give Fiji 12-10 win. It was third successive defeat for the national side, who dropped to plate semis and were paired against England. The Britons equally proved too smart for Kenya, catching them unaware 54 seconds after kick off to take a 7-point lead.

Despite pushing England to their territory, Tom Mitchell kicked the ball and Dan Norton sprinted past Nelson Oyoo to score England’s second try and his 200th in the IRB series as they took a 12-0 lead at breather.

The second half was a one-side affair as England scored three more tries to send Kenya packing. Focus now shifts to the inaugural Singapore Sevens set for this weekend. The team departs for Singapore today. Injera, who scored his 223rd try in the series says they will seek to rectify some of the mistakes they made in Hong Kong. However, he says he was impressed with the team’s defence especially against New Zealand and Fiji.

“We really need to focus and correct on the mistakes we made. We will also look at the positives we picked from the circuit. One positive thing from this tournament is our defence, where we displayed a lot of improvement. We can make it even better in Singapore,” he said.

Kenya face South Africa, Scotland and Russia in Singapore.

Meanwhile Biko Adema has been ruled for the rest of the season with an injury. Adema picked a knock on his thumb last week on Wednesday and will be replaced by Samuel Motari

Kenya Sevens take on defending champions Fiji in Hong Kong Sevens Cup quarter-finals on Saturday from 7.40am where they hope to make amends for their previous defeats in Sydney and Vancouver to the Pacific Ocean islanders.

Benjamin Ayimba charge’s sailed through to the Cup quarters, their fourth this season, by the skin of their teeth after losing to New Zealand and France 5-0 and 10-17 respectively on Saturday.

What counted for Kenya Sevens, who qualified alongside New Zealand from in Pool A to the Cup quarters, was their superior point difference.

New Zealand topped the pool unbeaten, edging France 19-17, Kenya 5-0 and Samoa 20-10.

However, mathematics had to be used after Kenya, Samoa and France tied on five points after winning once and losing twice each.

Kenya sailed through with a point difference of positive 12. France had a difference of negative seven and Samoa negative 30.

Skipper Andrew Amonde said they played well but unfortunately didn’t take their chances to attack and score. “What is happening is that teams strategise well against Kenya hence we must work hard all round in defence, possession and attack to be able to win,” he said.

Veteran Humphrey Kayange said they should have won again against All Blacks.

“We didn’t take our chances to attack especially at the breakdowns and one mistake cost us the try against All Blacks,” said Kayange.

“We always plan to win tournaments and that moment will come soon.”

Kenya launched their quest on Friday by beating Samoa 24-0. Samoa recovered to edge out France 24-12 yesterday. Kenya failed to make amends for their 24-21 Bowl quarter-final defeat in Vancouver to the Frenchmen.

Fiji topped Pool D unbeaten, dispatched Canada 19-17, South Korea 57-0 and Wales 36-10.

In their last pool match, France got off to a flying start, starving the Kenyans off possession to lead 12-0.

The national women’s football team on Friday held hosts Algeria to a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their 2016 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at the Stade Omar Hammadi in Bologhine, Algiers.

The Harambee Starlets scored through a second half own-goal Fatima Sekouane to cancel out Naima Bouhani’s opener at the half-hour mark at the 17,000-seater in Algiers.

The Kenyans took control of the proceedings and went ahead with four minutes to stoppage time through Mwanahalima "Dogo" Adam, but David Ouma’s charges could not hold onto the lead, gifting the hosts a last-gasp equaliser through Bouhani.

Ouma will be happy with the two away goals which the Starlets will take to Tuesday’s return leg at the Nyayo National Stadium. The aggregate winner of the tie will join seven other teams that will grace the 12th edition of the competitions to be held in Yaoundé in November. Kenya have never featured in a women’s Cup of Nations finals.

The Sports Kenya Golf Tournament which kicked off at Muthaiga golf club last Saturday traffic jammed over 200 Players who were all eager to sink their tee shots, one hole after another to the ultimate winner prize of 80,000 ksh. The day had Kapila Jai as the favorite with the way he was palying which saw him break through and win the Tournament. Mr. Jai who is a member of Muthaiga Golf Club contributed the success to the good weather which ensured the course being in perfect condition. Mr. jai was closely followed by Munene GN who also garnered 40 points but with greater number of shots. The event was a big catalyst to the grow of golf!!

For the competition results please Visit

http://www.masterscoreboard.co.uk/results/CompetitionResult.php?CWID=10020&Competition=38423

Sports Kenya hosted a huge field on Saturday at Muthaiga Golf Club making a huge contribution to the growing of the game of golf.

The event which was also solely Sponsored by sports Kenya attracted 300 players from the various golfing clubs across the country.This was a bid to promote the game of Golf, the sports Kenya Corporation and its functionalities, and most importantly for the entertainment value that such events stir!
The chairman of Sports Kenya, Mr. Muteti Couldn't stress enough that golf remained one of the sports in Kenya where various individuals used their own resources and the time to make it reachable to many had come.Mr.Muteti himself is an ardent Golf player and said that he only saw it only fit for the corporation to put in effort to promote the game of Golf.

The evening saw the close of the event with the rewarding of the exceptional players followed by a dinner Party that continued late into the night.

Kenya’s Visiline Jepkesho and Cyprian Kotut were dominant winners at the 40th edition of the Paris Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday morning (3).

Jepkesho, 28, scooped the biggest win of her career to date, coming home in 2:25:52 to take victory ahead of Ethiopians Gulume Tollesa (2:26:14) and Dinknesh Mekasha (2:28:12).

Kotut, meanwhile, followed in the footsteps of older brother Martin Lel – a three-time champion at the London Marathon – when speeding to victory in 2:07:11 ahead of Kenyan compatriots Laban Korir (2:07:29) and Stephen Chemlany (2:07:37).

As expected, the men’s race was a wide-open contest, with the battle for supremacy played out in the closing stages.

Headed by Cosmas Birech, Solomon Yego and Thomas Kiplagat, a large group of 15 runners went through 5km in 14:32, suggesting a possible finish time of about 2:03:00, but the rhythm soon slowed and the leading pack hit the 10km mark in 29:35. After passing the 20km checkpoint in 59:37, the three pacemakers distanced themselves from the rest of the group, with Ethiopia’s Azmeraw Mengistu a few metres behind and the chasing pack about 30 metres in arrears.

The main group went through halfway in 1:02:47, still on course to challenge the course record of 2:05:04 set by Kenenisa Bekele in 2014.

When the first of the pacemakers dropped out, Kiplagat and Yego still were at the front, a few seconds ahead of the favourite’s group, while defending champion Mark Korir started to fade before stepping off the course.

At 30km both remaining pacemakers stepped aside, leaving nine runners up front with a pair of Ethiopians and seven Kenyans still in contention. At this time, Laban Korir, who was sixth last year, was the first to ramp up the pace of the leading pack, but he didn’t manage to escape.

Then the group whittled down to seven at the instigation of Luka Kanda. The rhythm slowed down between 30km and 35km, the section covered in 15:22, which allowed the leading pack to remain compact with eight runners at the front.

At 38km, Gebretsadik Abraha – who finished third at the 2012 Amsterdam Marathon – produced a big surge and the rest of the field broke up behind him. Kotut controlled the attack and joined him at the front before making his move for victory. He created a small gap over Abraha, who quickly struggled to hold on and began to pay for his vicious surge.

Behind Kotut, Stephen Chemlany moved into second place and seemed to even be in contention for victory with three kilometres to run, but a resolute Kotut continued to kick on. At about 40km, his lead grew to 10 seconds over Chemlany and Laban Korir.

Kotut crossed the finish line all alone in 2:07:11, and afterwards admitted he didn’t expect to take such a major title with his relative lack of experience at the distance.

“It’s a bit surprising,” said Kotut, “but not so much as some of my training teammates ran well like Mike Kigen, who was second in Seoul in 2:05. But it’s my second experience at the marathon and I had that fear that I wouldn’t have so much experience. My objective was to run my personal best (2:08:55), so it’s perfect.”

Korir held on to take second place in 2:07:29 as Chemlany rounded out the podium eight seconds adrift. The first French runner to finish was Timothée Bommier, who was 13th in a personal best of 2:15:38.

Bandari and Dolphins (Kampala) clubs topped the men’s and women’s team events at the 2016 National Age Groups, Open and Relays swimming Championships at the Kasarani Aqua Arena yesterday.

The coastal-based Bandari Swim Club garnered 587 points in the men’s category beating Dolphins Club from Kampala to the second place with 397.50. Nyali Primary School completed the podium with 169 points. Coastal-based Aga Khan Academy and Mombasa Aquatics were fourth and fifth respectively.

Visiting Uganda’s Dolphins Swim Club raked in 211 points to win the women’s team trophy. Loreto Convent took silver position with 10 points adrift as Dolphins Club (Mombasa) placed third with 177. Hillcrest International School were locked out of the medal bracket by a meagre three points (174), and Mombasa Aquatics were fifth.

In the individual events, dominated in three categories including girls’ 10-11 year-olds, and in the boys’ 10-11 and 12-13.

Namutebi Kirabo of Dolphins Swim Club Kampala dominated 10-11 years category to bag gold after amassing 35 points. Team-mate, Mubiru Swagia finished second after trailing the winner by a wide margin of 13 points as Makini School Sports Academy’s Joeleen Kuria was third with 12.

Kampala cruised to victory with 25 points, as Clyde Lwanya finished second with 20. Nyali Primary’s Stephen Ndegwa (19) was third. The girls’ 12-13 years was a close contest as Otters Swim Club’s Lusia Ruchiti, Islam Ali Juhaina (Mombasa Aquatics) and Breaburn Arusha’s Naimh Baker finished with 24, 22 and 21 points respectively.

Winning the boys’ 12-13 class with 33 points was Adnan Kabuye. He attributed his win, and that of his club to courage and determination.

“As the saying goes ‘Fortune favours the bold,’ and so today our club’s swimmers were the boldest and we won well,” said Uganda’s Kabuye.

He led Nyali Primary School’s Thomas Tabuka and compatriot Ben Kaganda to the top three positions. Loreto Convent Valley Road’s Hadassah Mumbi won the girls’ 14-15 years with 43 points. Alibhai Jasmeen came in second with 12 and Samira Oberson had nine.

Nobby Obuya of BSC clinched the boys’ 14-15 with 30 points, and he was followed by Muhammad Bilal from Blue Ocean Swim Club with 21 and Abubakar Ridhwan of BSC (20).

Scandal-hit FIFA has a new president -- and his name is Gianni Infantino.

World football's governing body elected the Swiss-Italian lawyer in Zurich Friday after he defeated nearest rival Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in the second round of voting.

Infantino, 45, succeeds Sepp Blatter, who stepped down last year with the organization mired in allegations of corruption and wrongdoing.

General secretary of European governing body UEFA, Infantino won the first round of voting but without the necessary two-third majority to secure an immediate victory.

He received 88 of the 207 votes with Sheikh Salman three behind on 85. Prince Ali gained 27 and Jerome Champagne, a former French diplomat who had previously worked for FIFA.

However, in the second round of voting, Infantino secured 115 votes -- 27 ahead of Salman -- to claim victory.

Infantino takes over at a time where FIFA is enduring one of the most difficult periods in its 112-year history.

The Swiss authorities are investigating the bidding process surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups while numerous officials have been indicted in the U.S over allegations of racketeering and money laundering.

The annual Kenya Swimming Federation Long Course National Age Group and Open Championship will be held at the Kasarani Aquatic Stadium, Nairobi, over the weekend.

The event had the young men and women arrive at the Kasarani Stadion Hotel as from thursday midday for prior preparations to the epic event which is estimated to take four-five days i.e 24th- 28th Feb.
KSF has stated that it is expecting a registration of 2000 participants from all over the country,including mombasa.kisumu and kampala,Uganda.
The event will be used to select representatives to the upcomintg CANA ZONE 3 & 4 swimming Championship which will be held in Mauritius, April TBA.