Nairobi — Nothing could stop or deny Telkom Orange toasting to their continental triumph after a well-deserved 2-1 victory over an equally suave Sliders at the 22nd Africa Cup Clubs Championships.

The Orange team finally exorcised the demons that had bedevilled them in the past two tournaments in Cairo and Abuja to win.

Despite beating Imo Heartland from Nigeria in the preliminaries of both events, the Nigerians were able to re-group and hand Telkom decisive defeats in the finals.

But it was different strokes this time around for Josephine Ataro's side that despite being pinned down by the rolling Sliders, they eventually overcame the assault to claim success, thanks to a golden goal by Jackline Ogot in the 81st minute.

On the other hand, their counterparts Kisumu Simba and Green Sharks once again were forced to play second fiddle to their rivals Sharkia and Eastern from Egypt.

Thick with tension

Sharkia claimed an unprecedented 18th continental triumph. They needed a breathtaking penalty shoot-out against stubborn Eastern to win 4-2 and retain the title.

The City Park air was thick with tension as the two sides tied at 1-1 both in regulation and extra time giving way for the shoot-out.

Kisumu Simba had to be contend with bronze after beating Yobe Desert Rollers 6-0 in the play-offs while Green Sharks wound up fifth with a 4-2 victory over Moshi Khalsa.

Zack Aura of Kisumu Simba was declared player of the tournament while Anita Agunda of Sliders claimed women's honours.

But City Park astro turf once again turned out to be a great learning experience for locals clubs, hockey administration and the government alike.

The tournament clearly exposed the stagnation in Kenya's game over the years. The astro turf that has been in the country for close to five years but it was the visiting teams which showed more mastery of the surface than the home sides

Six teams featured in the men's contest; Kisumu Simba and Green Sharks from Kenya, Sharkia and Eastern of Egypt, Yobe Desert Rollers of Nigeria and Moshi Khalsa from Tanzania.

The women's event had four teams; hosts Telkom Orange and Sliders, Imo Heartland of Nigerian and Uganda's Weatherland.

Hockey basics

Kenyan teams simply lacked hockey basics and techniques in ball control, passing and dribbling. They hardly sustained moves and were completely outdone by their superior rivals.

Penalty corners emerged as their main handicap as they blew up chances that that could have easily won them matches.

For instance, Kisumu Simba had 13 penalty corners against Eastern in the preliminaries but utilised none. Eastern had three penalty corners but scored their 2-0 win from them.

Much credit to Telkom and Sliders for reaching the final to ensure that the trophy that the Orange team won last in 2006 was back in Kenyan custody. But the results are quite deceiving since one would think that the women standards are superb with an all-Kenyan women final.

Champions Imo Heartland was a better side in their approach to all their matches despite the fact that they drew 1-1 with Telkom before losing to Sliders 2-1 to relinquish their title.

The element of discipline could have cost Heartland but there was a lot the Kenyan clubs learnt from them.

Sliders moved to draft youngsters into their system deserves praise and technical officials from visiting teams tipped them as a team to watch in future. Their own Anita Agunda was name player of the tournament.

Pundits opined that Kenyan sides could have hardly reached the knockout stages if teams from Western Africa like Ghana and Cameroon and Southern Africa like South Africa and Zimbabwe came for the Nairobi event.