The Betty Tioni Festival 2022 concluded with USIU-A and Titans winning the annual tournament in Men and women’s categories respectively. The tournament was graced by teams traveling from all over the country to Greensteds International School in Nakuru to participate. In the men’s category, thirty-two teams participated in the tournament while fourteen teams participated in the ladies’ tournament. Four pitches were used to ensure the tournament ran smoothly and was played on schedule.
The first day saw teams battling it out in their assigned pools in order to secure a position in the round of sixteen knockout stages. In the men’s category, the teams were distributed into eight pools of four teams each while the ladies had three pools of five teams each with the last pool only having four teams.
The top two teams from each pool that qualified for the Men’s round of sixteen knockout stages were; Sailors, Nairobi Simba, Kenya Police, Parklands, USIU-A, Wazito, Waza-B, KOTH BIRO, Strikers, Jaguars-A, Waza-B, USIU-B, Greensharks, Tahiti, Jaguars-B and GHF Pirates.
In the ladies category, eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals from the pools. These teams were; Sherehe, TUK, Amira, DFG, USIU, Blazers, Titans and Kisumu Queens.
Day two of the tournament saw teams being eliminated in the Knockout stages with only eight remaining to face each other in the Men’s quarter-finals. These teams were; Sailors, K.Police, USIU-A, Waza-B, Jaguars-A, USIU-B, Greensharks, and Jaguars-B.
Sailors edged Kenya Police out of the tournament by two goals to one while USIU-A secured a match against them in the semi-final by beating Waza-B by two goals to none. Jaguars-A beat USIU-B in the third quarter-final by two goals while Greensharks failed to secure a spot in the Semi-final by losing to Jaguars-B by a solitary goal.
In the women’s semi-final, Titans secured their spot into the final by beating USIU by a solitary goal while Sherehe earned their spot by beating Amira by two goals to one.
In the men’s semifinals, Jaguars-A beat their counterparts Jaguars-B by three goals to none to secure a spot into the finals while USIU-A beat Sailors in the second semi-final by two goals to none.
The women’s final match ended with a barren draw forcing the game to be decided by shootouts where Titans emerged as champions by beating Sherehe by only one goal. The men’s final match also was decided by shootouts since it was all square at the end of normal time. USIU-An ended up being the eventual winners by beating Western Jaguars by a goal.
The tournament is held annually in Nakuru as a tribute to the late Kenyan international and Blazers hockey player Betty Chebet Tioni who passed away in Nakuru after a short illness.
