By OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bandari Youth and KNCP Queens were crowned the football champions as the Coast Edition of the 2024/25 Betika BingwaFest culminated at a packed KPA Mbaraki Sports Club on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Hunters Hill Women and Mombasa Sports Club emerged the rugby men’s and women’s champions respectively, winning KES 1,000,000 each as well. Hunters Hill hammered Mazera’s Starlets 51-0 in the women’s final as Mombasa Sports Club narrowly edged out TUM Marines 5-0, the only try in the game coming in the first half. Before that, Migodi Leigh beat TUM Women 10-7 to take third place in the women’s category as Hunters Hill Men edged Kilifi Titans 13-0 to round up the awards bracket.
Winners in the football and rugby disciplines, pocketed KES 1 million each while the winning teams in the 3×3 basketball went home KES 500,000 richer. The first runners-up for football and rugby were awarded KES 500,000 while the second runners-up rounded off the prize category and received KES 250,000. In basketball, the teams that finished second and third took home KES 250,000 and KES 100,000 respectively.
Yusuf Ali ‘China’ scored the only goal for Bandari in the 26th minute of the game as the home team beat Simba Apparel 1-0, with Phoebe Baraza scoring the lone goal in the ladies’ final for KNCP against Changamwe’s Destiny Ladies.
Denmak FC had to settle for third place after edging Congo Boyz 3-2 in the men’s playoff as Ocean D Ladies beat Madrid Queens 5-0 to finish third in the women’s category.
In the 3×3 basketball, The Money Team lived to their name to pocket KES 500,000 after edging out The Unicorns 12-11 in the women’s final. The Unicorns put up a brilliant display towards the end of the game despite going down 10-5 at some point in the game, and almost grabbed a last minute winner but they squandered a series of free throws awarded to them. In the men’s final, Free Nation whitewashed KNCP to win on the 21-point rule, the game ending 22-10.
Speaking on the competition, Betika Brand Manager Eric Mwiti said, “The turnout was very impressive across the week, and for the final in particular. Competition was top-notch with exciting talent on display. Apart from sports, we had a medical camp where consultation and treatment was free of charge as a way of giving back to the community beyond sports. We are happy as we head to Nairobi for the national finals and are really encouraged by the numbers we have seen across the different regions we have been to. We believe in nurturing talents and when we see them come out like that we are encouraged to go the extra mile.”
Athletics did not take place over the weekend to avoid a clash with the Betika-sponsored Cross Country National Championship that was held on Saturday in Eldoret, with Brand Manager Eric Mwiti confirming that athletics for the Coast edition will take place on February 19th.
“We will have athletics for the Coast edition happen on the 19th of Febrruary and we call upon athletes to show up in large numbers. It would not have been possible to hold the competition this weekend owing to the fact that there was National Cross Country Championship and we are the sponsors of the series,” Mwiti added.
This was the penultimate chapter of the competition before the national championship take center stage, with be the sixth leg of the 2024/25 series that has seen the
The multi-disciplinary sports extravaganza has now transversed six regions namely; Western Region edition held in Mumias in August, Nyanza Edition hosted in Kisumu in September, which was followed by the Eastern Region chapter in October at Machakos, the Rift Valley edition at Eldoret in December 2024, and recently the Mountain Edition in Meru last month, and now the Coast Edition in Mombasa with Nairobi set as the next stop.
