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Kenya Hockey men's Premier League team Kenya Police and Sports Authority of India (SAI) women are the winners of tournament held at Sikh Union Club in Nairobi.
Govan Mbeki on Friday struck on the 50th minute to give the Police a 1-0 victory in men’s final, dampening SAI's hopes of bagging both men and women's titles in the event dubbed ‘Sikh Union Astroturf Inauguration Tournament.'
"Our strategy to stay at the back and capitalise on their mistakes worked well for us. Giving them the chance to roam around in our area would have been dangerous to us," Police coach Patrick Mugambi said.
Police goalkeeper Martin Agesa was forced to an early save from a short-corner as SAI begun the contest strong in search of an early lead.
Mugambi's side responded with two successive attacks, which SAI defenders cleared to safety, as the match pitting the two sides that had not lost any game since the tournament begun on Monday picked momentum.
It never took long before SAI men took control of the clash, forcing Police to fall back and defend. The teams went into half-time with the scores level at 0-0.
Upon resumption, SAI’s Vash Udev missed a glorious opportunity to score, and Mbeki punished SAI with a goal from close range 10 minutes from time.
Greensharks beat host Sikh Union 3-2 on post-match penalties to finish third. The two sides had tied 1-1 at the end of normal time.
In the women's category, Bhavani Madugula's goal at the stroke of halftime was all the SAI needed to beat record Kenyan champion Orange 1-0.
