Kenya 7s Star Alvin Otieno Named Sports Personality of The Month

Kenya Sevens forward Alvin Otieno has been named the LG/Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) Sports Personality for October.

Otieno who is popularly known as ‘Buffa’ beat top nominees among them rally driver Carl Tundo who lead compatriots Karan Patel and McRae Kimathi to a podium finish during the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally to seal the African Rally Championship (ARC).

“I am short of words, very happy about this award. It’s been good to me more so after recovering from injury and seeing my game improve through and through. The sky’s the limit for now and I also urge all players to keep going and aim higher in sport,” Buffa said after receiving the award.

Athlete Joyce Njeru who won the overall women’s World Mountain Racing Association (WMRA) World Cup title in Italy in the same month was also in contention.

Others are Elisha Rotich who won the Paris Marathon in 2:04:18 and broke Kenenisa Bekele’s course record from 2014, Angela Tanui who won the Amsterdam Marathon in a course record of 2:17:51, Joyceline Jepkosgei who won the London Marathon in 2:17:43 which is the seventh fastest on the all-time list, Diana Kipyegoi and Benson Kipruto who won the women and men’s race at the Boston Marathon.

Ulinzi Warrior’s Byron Mabonga who was instrumental in the side’s win against Cobra Sport of South Sudan to qualify for the Elite 16 in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) qualifiers also made it to the nomination list.

To win the award, Buffa stood out after being named the MVP as Shujaa reclaimed the Safari Sevens title which they last won in 2016, winning five out of the six matches they played in the tournament.

Buffa opened the scoring for Shujaa in the final against Germany, as the Kenyan side went on to win 12-5 and make sure the title remained in the country with the defending champions Morans having been beaten in the semis.

Otieno was awarded with a UHD LG 55-inch smart TV worth Ksh105,000.