Jepkesho and Kotut reign supreme at the Paris Marathon

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Kenya’s Visiline Jepkesho and Cyprian Kotut were dominant winners at the 40th edition of the Paris Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday morning (3).

Jepkesho, 28, scooped the biggest win of her career to date, coming home in 2:25:52 to take victory ahead of Ethiopians Gulume Tollesa (2:26:14) and Dinknesh Mekasha (2:28:12).

Kotut, meanwhile, followed in the footsteps of older brother Martin Lel – a three-time champion at the London Marathon – when speeding to victory in 2:07:11 ahead of Kenyan compatriots Laban Korir (2:07:29) and Stephen Chemlany (2:07:37).

As expected, the men’s race was a wide-open contest, with the battle for supremacy played out in the closing stages.

Headed by Cosmas Birech, Solomon Yego and Thomas Kiplagat, a large group of 15 runners went through 5km in 14:32, suggesting a possible finish time of about 2:03:00, but the rhythm soon slowed and the leading pack hit the 10km mark in 29:35. After passing the 20km checkpoint in 59:37, the three pacemakers distanced themselves from the rest of the group, with Ethiopia’s Azmeraw Mengistu a few metres behind and the chasing pack about 30 metres in arrears.

The main group went through halfway in 1:02:47, still on course to challenge the course record of 2:05:04 set by Kenenisa Bekele in 2014.

When the first of the pacemakers dropped out, Kiplagat and Yego still were at the front, a few seconds ahead of the favourite’s group, while defending champion Mark Korir started to fade before stepping off the course.

At 30km both remaining pacemakers stepped aside, leaving nine runners up front with a pair of Ethiopians and seven Kenyans still in contention. At this time, Laban Korir, who was sixth last year, was the first to ramp up the pace of the leading pack, but he didn’t manage to escape.

Then the group whittled down to seven at the instigation of Luka Kanda. The rhythm slowed down between 30km and 35km, the section covered in 15:22, which allowed the leading pack to remain compact with eight runners at the front.

At 38km, Gebretsadik Abraha – who finished third at the 2012 Amsterdam Marathon – produced a big surge and the rest of the field broke up behind him. Kotut controlled the attack and joined him at the front before making his move for victory. He created a small gap over Abraha, who quickly struggled to hold on and began to pay for his vicious surge.

Behind Kotut, Stephen Chemlany moved into second place and seemed to even be in contention for victory with three kilometres to run, but a resolute Kotut continued to kick on. At about 40km, his lead grew to 10 seconds over Chemlany and Laban Korir.

Kotut crossed the finish line all alone in 2:07:11, and afterwards admitted he didn’t expect to take such a major title with his relative lack of experience at the distance.

“It’s a bit surprising,” said Kotut, “but not so much as some of my training teammates ran well like Mike Kigen, who was second in Seoul in 2:05. But it’s my second experience at the marathon and I had that fear that I wouldn’t have so much experience. My objective was to run my personal best (2:08:55), so it’s perfect.”

Korir held on to take second place in 2:07:29 as Chemlany rounded out the podium eight seconds adrift. The first French runner to finish was Timothée Bommier, who was 13th in a personal best of 2:15:38.

 

BANDARI and Dolphins (Kampala) top men’s and women’s teams

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Bandari and Dolphins (Kampala) clubs topped the men’s and women’s team events at the 2016 National Age Groups, Open and Relays swimming Championships at the Kasarani Aqua Arena yesterday.

The coastal-based Bandari Swim Club garnered 587 points in the men’s category beating Dolphins Club from Kampala to the second place with 397.50. Nyali Primary School completed the podium with 169 points. Coastal-based Aga Khan Academy and Mombasa Aquatics were fourth and fifth respectively.

Visiting Uganda’s Dolphins Swim Club raked in 211 points to win the women’s team trophy. Loreto Convent took silver position with 10 points adrift as Dolphins Club (Mombasa) placed third with 177. Hillcrest International School were locked out of the medal bracket by a meagre three points (174), and Mombasa Aquatics were fifth.

In the individual events, dominated in three categories including girls’ 10-11 year-olds, and in the boys’ 10-11 and 12-13.

Namutebi Kirabo of Dolphins Swim Club Kampala dominated 10-11 years category to bag gold after amassing 35 points. Team-mate, Mubiru Swagia finished second after trailing the winner by a wide margin of 13 points as Makini School Sports Academy’s Joeleen Kuria was third with 12.

Kampala cruised to victory with 25 points, as Clyde Lwanya finished second with 20. Nyali Primary’s Stephen Ndegwa (19) was third. The girls’ 12-13 years was a close contest as Otters Swim Club’s Lusia Ruchiti, Islam Ali Juhaina (Mombasa Aquatics) and Breaburn Arusha’s Naimh Baker finished with 24, 22 and 21 points respectively.

Winning the boys’ 12-13 class with 33 points was Adnan Kabuye. He attributed his win, and that of his club to courage and determination.

“As the saying goes ‘Fortune favours the bold,’ and so today our club’s swimmers were the boldest and we won well,” said Uganda’s Kabuye.

He led Nyali Primary School’s Thomas Tabuka and compatriot Ben Kaganda to the top three positions. Loreto Convent Valley Road’s Hadassah Mumbi won the girls’ 14-15 years with 43 points. Alibhai Jasmeen came in second with 12 and Samira Oberson had nine.

Nobby Obuya of BSC clinched the boys’ 14-15 with 30 points, and he was followed by Muhammad Bilal from Blue Ocean Swim Club with 21 and Abubakar Ridhwan of BSC (20).

Behind the scenes in Zurich, Fifa elections 2016

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Scandal-hit FIFA has a new president -- and his name is Gianni Infantino.

World football's governing body elected the Swiss-Italian lawyer in Zurich Friday after he defeated nearest rival Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in the second round of voting.

Infantino, 45, succeeds Sepp Blatter, who stepped down last year with the organization mired in allegations of corruption and wrongdoing.

General secretary of European governing body UEFA, Infantino won the first round of voting but without the necessary two-third majority to secure an immediate victory.

He received 88 of the 207 votes with Sheikh Salman three behind on 85. Prince Ali gained 27 and Jerome Champagne, a former French diplomat who had previously worked for FIFA.

However, in the second round of voting, Infantino secured 115 votes -- 27 ahead of Salman -- to claim victory.

Infantino takes over at a time where FIFA is enduring one of the most difficult periods in its 112-year history.

The Swiss authorities are investigating the bidding process surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups while numerous officials have been indicted in the U.S over allegations of racketeering and money laundering.

Kenya National swimming Gala to go down at Kasarani aquatic stadium

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The annual Kenya Swimming Federation Long Course National Age Group and Open Championship will be held at the Kasarani Aquatic Stadium, Nairobi, over the weekend.

The event had the young men and women arrive at the Kasarani Stadion Hotel as from thursday midday for prior preparations to the epic event which is estimated to take four-five days i.e 24th- 28th Feb.
KSF has stated that it is expecting a registration of 2000 participants from all over the country,including mombasa.kisumu and kampala,Uganda.
The event will be used to select representatives to the upcomintg CANA ZONE 3 & 4 swimming Championship which will be held in Mauritius, April TBA.

WADA AND IAAF confirm dope allegations

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The pressure on Athletics Kenya intensified further on Tuesday as the IAAF revealed it had been investigating alleged doping cover-ups in the country since March. The IAAF’s admission came just hours after Dick Pound, who led the damning Independent Commission report into Russian athletics, also warned “a lot of performance-enhancing drugs” were being used in Kenya.

Athletics’ world governing body confirmed that its Ethics Commission, which is to publish a report into the alleged corrupt behaviour of several former members of the International Association of Athletics Federations next month, is investigating the African country. “An IAAF staff member referred allegations of the covering up of doping in Kenya to the IAAF Ethics Commission in March of 2015,” the federation admitted.

Meanwhile Pound has claimed the problems in Kenya are not only a concern for the World Anti-Doping Agency but should worry every endurance athlete. “It is pretty clear that Kenya have enjoyed huge success in the endurance events and it is also pretty clear that there is a lot of performance-enhancing drugs being used in Kenya,” he said. “That should be a matter of concern for athletes. It certainly is a matter of concern to Wada. And it should be a concern anyone participating in those events.”

Pound’s comments follow those of the Kenyan Olympic Committee chairman, Kipchoge Keino, who warned last week that Wada was “seriously considering” banning Kenya from track and field for four years. There have also been rumours that unnamed marathon runners have paid bribes to avoid serving doping bans.

Detectives have also questioned three of the most senior officials at Athletics Kenya – Isaiah Kiplagat, the chairman, David Okeyo, the vice-president, and Joseph Kinyua, its former treasurer – over claims they pocketed close to $700,000 from Nike, an accusation the sportswear manufacturer has strongly denied. Okeyo, who sits on the IAAF’s 26-person ruling council, and Kiplagat have denied the allegations, which they claim were made by a disgruntled former employee.
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Nick Mwendwa Floors the Big wigs to clench the FKF presidential Post

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Mwendwa, floored other bigwigs like Gor Mahia chairman and incumbent Sam Nyamweya, former international Sammy Sholei,Dan Shikanda and Ambrose Rachier among others to win. Nick Mwendwa, 37, chairman of Kariobangi Sharks, bagged the FKF President's seat after garnering 50 votes out of the possible 77 closely followed by Rachier with 27votes. Using the trending hashtag #FKFElections, they also expressed their desires on what Nick Mwendwa should do to bring sanity and professionalism in the Kenyan football as they also wished him good luck.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sports/article/2000191233/nick-mwendwa-wins-the-fkf-presidential-post-as-kenyans-on-twitter-praise-him-and-express-their-hopes

IAAF under fire over allegations of enabling and covering doping

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IAAF president Sebastian Coe faces a huge challenge to restore public trust in the organisation after his predecessor, Lamine Diack, was accused of "organising and enabling conspiracy and corruption" within athletics' governing body on another dark day for the sport.

The second part of a report by an independent commission established by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was published on Thursday, with one of the conclusions being that the highest levels of the IAAF Council must have known about the extent of doping.

Athletics' reputation was severely tarnished last November when the first part of the report made allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia, which led to the IAAF suspending Russian athletes from competition.

Safaricom International jazz festival at Kasarani Stadium

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21st .February. 2016

This year’s Safaricom International Jazz Festival started with a bang with three time Grammy Award winning Branford Marsalis gracing our stage on the 21st of February 2016. He wasn’t the only act, with additional performances from Jef Neve, Giampaolo Nuti & Francesco D’Orazio, Maya Beltsitzman & Matan Ephrat, Sons of Kemmet & Siya Makuzeni. We were also proud to bring back Kunle Ayo, AfroSync & Edward Parseen and the Different Faces Band.

Gideon Kipketer Clenches the Mumbai Marathon

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Kenyan pacemaker Gideon Kipketer won the men's race in an all-East African clean sweep of the podium by setting a new course record in the 13th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon on Sunday.
Kipketer, who started the race as a pace-setter, decided to continue till the end after taking over the sole lead midway through the return leg of the race and stopped the clock at 2:08:35, shaving almost a full second off the 2013 record of 2:09:32 set by Ugandan Jackson Kiprop.
Kipketer, who won USD 56,000, including the bonus for breaking the course record worth USD 15,000, was followed home in second place by Ethiopia's Seboka Dibaba in 2:09:20 and Marius Kimutai of Kenya (2:09:39).

London marathon to pit Kipchoge versus Kipsang

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Last year's Virgin Money London Marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge will take on 2014 champion Wilson Kipsang when the two Kenyans face each other in this year’s IAAF Gold Label Road Race on Sunday 24 April, organisers announced on Tuesday (19).
Kipchoge beat two-time champion Kipsang by just five seconds in a thrilling sprint finish at the end of last year’s 35th race, with fellow Kenyan and world record-holder Dennis Kimetto left trailing in their wake in third place.
Kipchoge’s winning time of 2:04:42 was just outside Kipsang’s course record of 2:04:29 set in 2014. The 2003 world 5000m champion went on to win the Berlin Marathon last September in a personal best of 2:04:00.
He is now sixth on the world all-time list for the distance behind Kimetto’s historic best of 2:02:57 and Kipsang’s former world record of 2:03:23.
Kimetto also returns to London in 2016 hoping to improve on his third place last year. Stanley Biwott is the fourth outstanding Kenyan in the field, running in London for the fourth time after finishing fourth last year, second in 2014 and eighth in 2013.
Biwott should be full of confidence after an impressive victory at the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon.
With Rio 2016 Olympic places to be won, there will be even more at stake for the Kenyan runners in 2016 when the quartet toe the London start line again in pursuit of one of world running’s most prestigious prizes.
“It was fantastic to win the Virgin Money London Marathon last year against one of the greatest fields ever assembled in marathon running,” said Kipchoge.
“This year I will come back to London to compete again with the world's best athletes," he added. "I will work hard to defend my title in London and, together with Wilson, Dennis, Stanley and those from other countries, make it a fast and wonderful race. I want to thank the organisation for again bringing the best athletes in marathon running together in London, it's great for our sport."
Kipchoge’s superb record of five wins and one second place from six marathon starts since 2013 will make him the marginal favourite. But the elite men’s field contains the top five finishers from 2015, five men who have run the 26.2-mile distance faster than 2:05:00, and 16 who have finished quicker than 2:10:00.

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Sports Kenya (SK) was founded through the Sports Act of January 25 2013 by an Act parliament as a successor to Sports Stadia Management Board and the department of Sports in the ministry of sports, culture and the arts.

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