The 5th Inter-Parliamentary Games kicked off this morning with athletics and tug-of-war. In Athletics, Kenya National Assembly Men bagged gold after scooping 45 points in the seven races that were held. Parliament of Uganda finished a strong second (40 points), Parliament of Tanzania (22 points) and EALA 16 (points) in that order.
In the women races, Parliament of Tanzania came up tops with 46 points. Uganda finished second (39 points), Kenya (30 points) with EALA finishing a distant fourth amassing 14 points.
The race categories included 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres. The Athletes also competed in the 1500 metres, 100 x 4 relay and the 400 x4 relay.
In the 100 metres dash, Hon Joshua Nassari of the Parliament of Tanzania crossed the finish line on 12.07 seconds beating his closest challenger, Senator Isaac Melly (Kenya National Assembly) who managed 12.69.
Cherengany MP and former Boston Marathon Champion, Hon Wesley Korir excited the crowd in the 400 metre dash on 57.44 seconds to earn Kenya 6 points. In the women’s race, Hon Esther Matiko (Parliament of Tanzania) crossed the the 400 metre line on 1:27: 09 while Hon Kedogo Dorcas of Kenya finished second. Parliament of Tanzania also produced a 1-2 finish on the 1500 metres race with Hon Halima Mdee and Hon Esther Matiko grabbing the slots.
In the 100 x 4 relays, Parliament of Uganda scooped first place followed by Parliament of Tanzania and Kenya National Assembly respectively. The case was the same in the 400 x 4 relay.
Each win earned the respective teams 6 points down in a descending order until the last team which garnered 1 point.
In Tug-of War, Parliament of Tanzania upstaged Kenya by 2 pulls to zero in the finals in Group A while Uganda beat EALA by a similar margin to finish third in the tournament.
The same scores were repeated in the Men’s tug-of-war tournament. Parliament of Tanzania upset Kenya National Assembly by winning both pulls. Uganda finished third after beating Kenya by a similar 2 pulls to earn the win.
In Sunday’s matches: in netball, EALA will square it out with Burundi in the first match. In the second match, later in the afternoon, Tanzania is expected to be awarded its match versus Rwanda who have pulled out of the tournament.
In football, defending Champions, Parliament of Uganda shall face-off once again with last year’s losing finalists EALA in the first match (Group A) before Tanzania takes the pitch to garner a walk-over over Rwanda. (In group B).
ENDS-
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For more information, contact
Bobi Odiko,
Senior Public Relations Officer,
East African Legislative Assembly.
Tel: +255-27-2508240
Fax: +255-27-2503103,
Cell: +255-787-870945 +254-733-718036
Email: BOdiko@eachq.org,
Web: https://www.eala.org
