Hammamet, Tunisia — Skipper Michelle Adhiambo slotted home the winning point in a hotly contested second set, as Kenya's women's handball team secured a place on the podium at the Africa Beach Games in Hammamet, Tunisia.
The Kenyan girls won their second straight game, having seen off Algeria on Saturday and this places them third in the five-team group with two matches to spare.
They play Uganda later Sunday evening before they finish off with hosts Tunisia, who lead the table, on Monday.
The Kenyan girls fought hard to win the second set, 17-16. They had earlier won the first set easily with a score of 12-4.
Their decisions on the special player once again bore fruit, skipper Adhiambo this time switching with Gladys Chilo to turn the game around in the final four minutes.
Assistant captain Viona Wandera was delighted with the victory.
"We changed the situation and had to re-strategize when it became a bit difficult. They (Mali) had studied our plays and we needed to work out something different and we switched up the special player. We worked as a team and brought the victory home," Wandera said after the game.
She added; "We are really feeling excited because we are now officially in the medal bracket. Now we take a game at a time, the two that remain and we are pushing to get into the gold bracket."
Adhiambo top scored for Kenya with a game high 14 points with Brenda Ariviza adding six and Chilo four.
The Kenyan girls, who had dismissed Algeria on the opening day started the duel well and controlled from start to finish, the experienced trio of Ariviza, Adhiambo and Chilo adding on to the youth and speed of the young players were unstoppable.
In the second period however, Mali came back better and troubled the Kenyan side, as they were speedy and made more use of their special player and spin shots to accumulate more two-point goals.
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It was a see-saw affair and with scores at 12:12 and 6:38 played, Kenya called a time out. The decision to switch the special player was made, Adhiambo handing the green shirt to Chilo.
On return, Chilo took Kenya up with a well taken shot, but the never say die Malians kept the fight. With under a minute to play, the scores were tied at 16-ups and Mali had possession. However, Kenya put up good defense and won back possession.
The ball was swung to Adhiambo's path on the left, the latter swinging an unstoppable one-point shot to win the game.
Meanwhile, the men's team has been eliminated after losing their second match of the three-team pool, going down by straight sets of 22-12 and 18-10.
In sprint rowing, The Kenyan duo of Diana Natecho and Harrison Malenga reached the quarter finals. They had both gone through the preliminary time-trial stage, but Malenga lost in the last eight to Sudan, while Natecho lost to a home rower.
