Kenya University Sports Federation (KUSF) defending champions Kenyatta University (KU) began their 3x3 basketball title defence on a high, beating Maseno University 19-13 in their opening match played at Court A, during the first day of the National Play-offs at Kabarak University in Nakuru County.
Speaking on Thursday after their win, KU captain Brian Mutua said the defending champions are under no pressure in their pursuit of back-to-back titles.
“As defending champions, it will be a tough task, but we are ready to defend our title. We have no pressure to retain it,” said Mutua, adding that their status as champions gives them a psychological edge over opponents.
“We have nothing to lose. Our aim is to put our opponents under pressure, not ourselves, since we have the upper hand,” Mutua said.
With the win against Maseno, KU now boosts its chances of reaching the semifinals in a tough contest that also saw a mixture of other men’s Results with Murang’a University of Technology (MUT) edging Technical University of Mombasa 19-12, Mount Kenya University (MKU) beating Strathmore University 18-13, MUT narrowly defeating MKU 12-10, University of Nairobi silenced Maseno 21-14 before beating University of Eldoret (UoE) 21-16.
In the Women’s category, an unfortunate Chuka University lost all their opening fixtures, but former champions Strathmore started strong beating Egerton University 13-9 as MKU defeated Chuka 11-09, Chuka lost to Kisii University in sudden death after an 11-all draw in regulation time, while hosts Kabarak University fell 03-11 to Meru University of Science and Technology, UoN and United States International University Africa (USIU-A) beat the hosts 21-06.
The Kabarak extravaganza features 15 indoor disciplines — including badminton, table tennis, darts, scrabble, taekwondo, karate, and chess — alongside five outdoor sports: woodball, baseball, rugby sevens, rollball, and 3x3 basketball.
