Inter-Parliamentary Games: More Gold, Silver As Kosgei, Wanyonyi Dominate Darts

_{Nominated MP and men’s sitting darts gold medalist jackson Kosgei in action at Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa at the ongoing 14th edition of the EAC Inter-Parliamentary Games at the Coast. PHOTO/ PARLIAMENT OF KENYA}

MOMBASA, Kenya- More medals continued to trickle in as Kenyans dazzled in darts at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa in the ongoing 14th edition of the East African Community (EAC) Inter-Parliamentary Games being held at the Coast.

Nominated Member of Parliament (MP) Jackson Kosgei pinned down Alex Bahati of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) with a 2-0 victory before dismissing his compatriot Tim Wanyonyi (Westlands) 2-1 to strike gold in sitting darts (category for Persons with Disabilities.)

On the other hand, Kenya’s team captain Wanyonyi left no stone unturned as he battled Bahati for silver, beating the latter  2-1 to finish runners up.

_{Kenya darts team captain Hon Tim Wanyonyi celebrate his silver medal in men’s sitting darts at the Aga Khan Academy in Mombasa at the ongoing 14th edition of the EAC Interparliamentary Games at the coast. PHOTO/ KENYA PARLIAMENT}

The impressive run by Kosgei and Wanyonyi now brings Kenya’s medal tally to 7 (3 gold, 2 silvers and 1 bronze) at the ongoing championships.

The other two golds were struck by the men’s 4x100m team quartet of 

Vincent Kawaya (Mwala), Josses Lelmengit (Emgwen), Charles Nguna (Mwingi West) and Benard Kitur (Nandi) as Makueni Woman Representative Rose Museo Mumo, who successfully defended her women’s darts title in the games, added the other.

Kawaya also won silver in men’s 100m while Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji won bronze in men’s 400m.

“We are here to lift both individual and team titles and so far so good in both categories,” impressed Wanyonyi told Standard Sports.

Wanyonyi highlighted the importance of the ongoing games saying they are crucial for the EAC integration.

“As PWDs we are also pushing for wheelchair basketball to be introduced to give us more variety of sports to chose from,” he said.

And how did the Kenya darts team prepare for the ongoing event at the Coast?

“We did lots of practices at the Kenya Parliament where we have dart boards, we did our exercises individually and as a group, this is a game of mathematics so we practiced over and over so as to be both fit and sharper. I’m happy we got so accurate on the board and that’s why we are currently delivering the medals,” Wanyonyi stated.

Part of their preparations also involved going to the gym which Wanyonyi says has kept them away from unnecessary injuries.

Meanwhile, the Kenya men’s volleyball team who are out to defend their title for the tenth time continued to soar high in the tournament, winning a five-set thriller over Burundi on a tense Wednesday night.

The hosts won 3-2 (35-21, 11-25, 14-25,25-23, 15-11) with Alfred Mutai emerging Man of The Match with his powerful spikes that proved instrumental for the sweet victory. 

At times, his exceptional performance at critical moments helped the home team maintain their composure during the intense final exchanges.

The victory marks Kenya’s second win in the tournament, significantly boosting the hosts standings in the games as the defending champions. 

 Selected results

Men’s Darts (round robin)

Gold

Jackson Kosgei (Nominated MP) beat Tim Wanyonyi (Westlands ) 2-1

Jackson Kosgei beat Alex Bahati (EALA) 2-0

Silver 

Tim Wanyonyi beat Alex Bahati 2-1.

Basketball men

Kenya 67.    38 Tanzania

Volleyball men 

Kenya 3  2 Burundi 

EALA 3  2 Uganda