Collins Injera, Crowned King Of Tries on closure of London Sevens

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Collins Injera became the leading try scorer in rugby sevens on Saturday, and it was a family celebration for the Kenya star.

Injera crossed the line four times on the opening day of the final round of the 2015-16 Sevens World Series in London, taking him past the previous record of 230 set by Argentina's Santiago Gomez Cora.
He had much reason to thank older brother Humphrey Kayange, who set him up for his 231st try in the dying seconds of Kenya's 29-12 defeat by France.
Injera sank to his knees and looked to the gray skies above Twickenham, before running off the field to celebrate with his parents watching proudly in the stands.
"I've played this sport since high school, and when I started out I wanted to go for the record," the 29-year-old said pitchside after the game.
"It was a huge thing -- getting it with my brother, who was mentoring me a lot, telling me what to do and what not to do. It's a special moment for me, happening at Twickenham."
Injera scored his first series try at the home of English rugby -- and his 200th there last year when he famously celebrated the milestone by signing a TV camera, ruining its lens in the process.
Injera said he had a "special connection" with his older brother -- who also gifted him a score when already over the try line in the earlier loss to Scotland.
"I want to thank him for that, it was a selfless thing to do," he told CNN. "Every time I just found myself supporting him. We just have this connection -- there was no argument that he had to give me the try."
He said it was the second time his parents had been to London to watch them, and they had attended other events on the circuit such as Dubai.
"I was just so happy to have them here, it was an amazing feeling," said Injera, who stripped off his No. 11 jersey and gave it to his parents.
Kenya, which won the Singapore title last month, had needed to beat France to reach Sunday's quarterfinals of the top-tier competition, having lost twice after an opening 22-17 win over Portugal.
Instead, Injera will seek to extend his new milestone in the consolation rounds for nations which failed to make the top two of their groups -- France went through with Scotland from Pool C.
"With the Olympics coming down, if you slow down someone else hits you up," he said.
"We want to finish on a positive note and then focus on the Olympics."
Injera's record-breaking efforts overshadowed the sevens debut of former rugby league and NFL player Jarryd Hayne, whose Fiji side sealed back-to-back series titles after securing a quarterfinal clash with France.

Kenya Shujaas fail to extend Singapore success in Paris

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There was no repeat of Singapore Sevens success for Kenya at the Paris leg after they lost to Australia to 7-26 in the Plate semi-finals on Sunday. The Kenyans collected 10 points for their World Rugby Sevens Series.

The results, however, did not improve their status in the World Rugby Sevens Series standing as the Benjamin Ayimba charges stayed seventh but with an enhanced tally of 95 points going into the last leg of the series in London on May 21-22, 2016. Kenya will once again face France, Scotland and Portugal in Pool 'C' of the London Sevens.

Australia dominated possession as Con Foley tore through Kenya’s defence to score two tries before Ed Jenkins sprinted through a gaping hole in the Kenya defence to score their third try for a 21-0 lead at the break.

Kenya, the Singapore Sevens champions, started the second half in much better side following the introduction of Robert Aringo as a half-time replacement. The east Africans deservedly got the first try of the second half through Billy “The Kid” Odhiambo.

As time ran out for Kenya, Australia, who were ruthless at the rucks, forced a penalty at the breakdown before Henry Hutchison dived over in the corner to seal their victory.

Kenya had lost to hosts France 5-24 in Cup quarterfinals to drop to Plate. Australia lost to Fiji 15-17 in the other Cup quarters clash where big wigs New Zealand and South Africa also suffered stunning defeats to Argentina and Samoa 19-17 and 21-10 respectively.

Kenya dismantle Russia 22-7 to ease through to Paris 7s quarter-finals

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William “Lomu” Ambaka celebrated his 26th birthday in style, touching down a brace of tries as Kenya dismantled Russia 22-7 to ease through to the Paris Sevens Cup quarter-finals at Stade Jean-Bouin on Saturday.
Samuel Oliech and Humphrey Kayange scored the other two tries for Singapore Sevens champions who led 12-0 at the break.
Kenya Sevens started their campaign for second title strongly on Friday when the history-chasing Collins Injera landed a brace of tries to tame Portugal 29-14 in the Pool “A” match.
All Blacks, who are Wellington, Sydney and Canada Sevens champions, beat Russian 35-10 on Friday and Portugal 31-0 to also make the Cup quarters.
Oliech drew first blood against the Russians when Injera put him through off a scrum as they extended the lead to 12-0 at the drinks when Oscar Ayodi broke before offloading to Ambaka to score.
Kenya went 17-0 up when Kayange offloaded to Ambaka from a tackle to land his second try, his third in Paris. German Davydov gave the Russians some glimpse of hope with a try but Kayange silenced them with a similar for victory.
Injera is now three tries of leading all-time try scorer Argentine Santiago Gomez, who has 230 tries. It’s left to be known whether he can achieve that feat against the All Blacks.
Kenya’s other tries against Portugal came from Oliech, William Ambaka and Humphrey Kayange. Injera and Oliech made a conversion each.

Can Kenyan Shujaa extend the Singapore HSBC 7s victory to Paris?

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Kenya Sevens rugby team hopes to continue with its fine form in this weekend’s Paris leg of World Sevens Series. After winning the eighth leg in Singapore last month, the Kenyans know much will be expected of them at the end of the three-day tournament. The Benjamin Ayimba’s men, who were to face Portugal in their opening Group A match last night, take on Russia today at 11.30am before renewing their rivalry with fancied New Zealand in their last group match at 3.03pm. Kenya are ranked seventh on the overall IRB Series standings with 85 points from eight legs. Meanwhile, Kenya 15s head coach Jerome Paarwater is looking forward to a great international season.
Paarwater, who arrived on Thursday morning from his Cape Town base, linked up with the squad and the rest of his technical bench in Kiserian for a four-day residential training. The Simbas start their campaign on June 4 with an away first leg Elgon Cup duel against Uganda in Kampala, before travelling to Brazil on June 18 for a test match.

Kenya's Cherono and Karimi the champions at Prague Marathon

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For the fifth time in 22 editons of the event, Lawrence Cherono and Lucy Karimi made it a double for Kenya at the Volkswagen Prague Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday morning (8).

Cherono made a powerful late-race surge to win the men’s race in 2:07:24, taking over two minutes off his previous best, while compatriot Lucy Karimi did likewise to take the women’s title in 2:24:46.

With the sun rising high in the sky by the time the event got under way – and temperatures steadily climbing to 19 degrees Celsius throughout the morning – the pace was kept to a steady tempo over the opening half of both races.

In the men's race, a group of 11 passed 10km in 30:00, only marginally picking up the pace thereafter, and the lead pack was still nine-strong by the time they reached 20km in 59:49.

At halfway, passed in 1:03:06, Ethiopia’s Seboka Dibaba was the only non-Kenyan among the leading pack, which was reduced to eight by the time the leaders reached 30km in 1:30:18.

At that point, it was clear the course record of 2:05:39, set by Eliud Kiptanui in 2010, was out of reach but, nonetheless, the leaders began to slowly crank down through the gears.

The athlete most keen to push things along was Kenya’s Felix Kandie, who whittled the leading pack down to three as he passed 35km in 1:45:28. Running alongside him were compatriots Lawrence Cherono and Solomon Yego, with Yego in particular doing more than his fair share of pacing duties at the front.

However just past the 37km mark, Yego found the pace too hot to handle and lost contact with the leading duo. At that point, Kandie continued to apply pressure up front, but Cherono seemed comfortable on his shoulder.

Shortly after the 38km mark, Cherono surged to the front and created an advantage, one which he would extend all the way to the finish.

Cherono raised his arms aloft as he crossed the line in the Old Town Square in 2:07:24, over two minutes faster than his previous best of 2:09:39, which he ran to win the Zurich Marathon last year.

“I felt very tired at the end because the course was tough, not very flat, so it tired me out," said Cherono. "I was having a little panic because sometimes you can go alone until the last minute and someone could come and pass you. I had to worry. I'm very happy because I am the champion."

Kandie faded badly over the closing kilometres but still managed to come home second in 2:08:14, well clear of fellow Kenyan Solomon Yego, who ran 2:08:31 to finish third.

Daniel Wanjiru was fourth in 2:09:25, the last man to dip under 2:10:00. In total, seven men broke 2:15:00, an indication of how much the conditions took their toll.

Winning the Czech national marathon crown for the second time since 2014 was Petr Pechek in 2:22:14, who was 14th overall.

The Foxes crowned English premier league Champions

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Leicester City have won the English Premier League title after closest rivals Tottenham Hotspur blew a two-goal lead to draw at last season's winners Chelsea.

Monday's result meant second-placed Tottenham will not be able to overtake Leicester City, who have a seven-point lead at the top.
Tottenham's two-goal advantage came courtesy of first-half goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min but Chelsea pulled a goal back just before the hour-mark with a Gary Cahill strike from a corner.

A late equaliser from Eden Hazard sealed the draw, and the title for Leicester City who fought off relegation last season.

With two games left for both sides, Tottenham need three points to secure second place.

A bad-tempered game at Stamford Bridge produced a rash of yellow cards while several players were lucky to stay on the pitch as tempers boiled over at full-time.

The game ended with scuffles between Tottenham players and staff and their Chelsea counterparts.

But the scenes at Stamford Bridge were secondary to those in Leicester, where thousands of fans had gathered to watch the match across the city.

Royalty Kipchoge retains London Marathon Title

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Eliud Kipchoge successfully defended his London Marathon title in a course record on Sunday to seal his place in Kenya’s Olympic marathon team.

Kipchoge broke away from New York City Marathon champion Stanley Biwott just before the 40km mark, cruising home to victory in 2 hours, 03 minutes and 05 seconds, missing the World record by seven seconds.

However, his time was not only enough to break the course record held by Wilson Kipsang of 2:04:29 when he won the 2014 race, but also improved on his personal best of 2:04:00 from his victory in Berlin last year.

The world record of 2:02:57 is being held by Dennis Kimetto from the 2014 Berlin Marathon victory.

Biwott finished second in personal best of 2:03:51 as Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele finished third at 2:06:38.

The race zeroed down to Kipchoge, Biwott and Bekele as they crossed the 27km mark in 1:14:49.

However, Bekele’s legs wilted against the might of Kenyans as he fell back with Kipchoge and Biwott cruising on past the 30km in 1:29:12.

Ochichi and Kemboi give Kenya a double at Cape Town Marathon

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Isabella Ochichi and Shadrack Kemboi achieved a Kenyan double at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon, winning the women’s and men’s contests respectively at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (20).

On a day when humidity was between 70-80%, Ochichi recorded a personal best of 2:30:20 to take 37 seconds off the course record set last year by Meseret Biru.

Kemboi, who finished fourth in this race last year, made it to the top of the podium this time with a winning performance of 2:11:41.

Ochichi had Bahrain’s Eunice Chumba for company in the first half, which was covered in 1:14:22, well inside course record pace.

Chumba then began to fade, leaving Ochichi to run alongside some male athletes as she completed the race in 2:30:20.

It took more than a minute from the 2:31:38 PB she set on her marathon debut in Amsterdam. It was also her first marathon victory after finishing fourth in Amsterdam in 2013 and third in Honolulu in 2014.

“I always wanted a marathon victory,” said Ochichi, the 2004 Olympic 5000m silver medallist. “I thought that it would come in Honolulu in 2014, but I got it today on my home continent – Africa – and I couldn’t be happier.”

Chumba finished second in 2:33:12 and Jemila Shure from Ethiopia was third in 2:37:52.

After an hour and a half of running in the men’s race, a group of nine athletes were still together. South Africa’s Lungile Gongqa was the first to try to make a break, but he was reeled back in after a few minutes. Nevertheless, his injection of pace helped to break up the leading pack.

Just a few minutes later, Kemboi was the next to make a move. He hit the front and soon opened up a gap on the field, one which grew until the finish line.

Within a matter of moments, he was away and clear out in front and he eventually crossed the line in 2:11:41. After a 1:07:01 first half, the second half was significantly quicker with Kemboi covering the final 13.1 miles in 1:04:40.

All three of his marathon victories to date have all been on South African soil, having won in Soweto in 2012 and Johannesburg in 2013.

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President Uhuru kenyatta Hosts the Sevens team in statehouse

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President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday hosted the sevens at state house in a reception marked with glamour and pomp.The president also rewarded the triumphant national sevens rugby team with Ksh10M for their historic main cup victory in Singapore.
Kenya pulled off a stunning 30-7 upset victory over defending champions and series leaders Fiji to claim their first ever world sevens series title in the eighth leg of the 2015/2016 world sevens series. Focus now shifts to Paris sevens where Kenya is pooled together with New Zealand, Portugal and Russia.

Shujaa given heavenly Heroes Welcome at JKIA

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Traditional dancers greeted Kenya’s winning rugby sevens team Tuesday when they landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, as the country celebrated its first victory on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
The dancers – some donning the Kenyan flag – lined up on both sides of a red carpet as the players stepped off a flight from Singapore, where they won their first series tournament by beating Fiji 30-7 on Sunday.
The result adds Kenya to the list of teams in the running to win the inaugural Olympics tournament in Rio de Janeiro later this year.
Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, who had indicated he will personally receive the team, was not at the airport with officials saying he was held up.
Kenya sevens captain Andrew Amonde holds the Singapore Sevens trophy aloft as they arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta international airport in Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Photo: Reuters
Sports cabinet secretary Hassan Wario, who welcomed the team, urged them to help Kenya increase its Olympic medal tally which traditionally has come from track events.

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