NAIROBI, Dec 13 (Xinhua) -- Kenya’s Telkom hockey club head coach Jos Openda says West African teams hold the advantage ahead of their Africa Cup for Club Championships, which will be staged in Abuja, Nigeria.
The continental competition will be staged in Nigeria from Dec. 15-22 and Telkom will be eyeing to recapture the title.
Openda said the tournament, which has attracted over 15 teams, will be crucial for the players ahead of next year’s Africa Olympic Games qualifiers, where the continent expects to field strong teams in both men and women’s competition aiming for medal podium.
“My team is focused and strong after our preparations. They are now itching to secure their revenge against the West African clubs, who are keen to ruffle the status quo,” Openda said in Nairobi on Thursday.
“Our only target is to reclaim our trophy back, which we lost early in January to Ghana Revenue Authority.”
Telkom, who are nine time champions of the Africa club title, failed in the last hurdle to make it ten when Ghana Revenue Authority beat them 1-0 in Accra in January.
But as the team left for Abuja, coach Openda had only one resolution, victory. Telkom together with United States International University (USIU) will be Kenya’s representatives at the continental championships.
This is after the two men’s teams, Kenya Police and Butali pulled out of the competition citing financial constraints. It will force Telkom to have their best game if they are to dethrone the West Africans.
“This team has learnt from their mistake and we have sharpened our striking force. We need to utilize our chances and seal the porous defense. We lost and it was good for the game because they broke our dominance. But we must restore ourselves back to the helm as true champions,” adds Openda.
Alongside the Kenyans teams, Telkom and USIU, other teams to look for are defending champions GRA and their compatriots Ghana Police, Nigeria’s KADA Queens and Delta Queens.
Former Nigeria Super League Champions Niger Flickers and Eastern Company Hockey Club of Egypt (defending champions), El Shakira also of Egypt, will be the top sides in the annual competition. Others are Police of Ghana.
