Moraa stars as Kenya bag four gold medals in All-African Games

Kenya produced their best performance yet in the ongoing 2023 All-African Games  as they swept four gold medals on Wednesday, March 20.

Emily Ngii Wamusyi opened Kenya’s gold hunting mission after emerging victorious in the 20km walk race women’s final on Wednesday.

Ngii who is a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officer, clocked 1:38.07 to win the title ahead of Ethiopia’s Masire Sintayehu and Azzi Asoud of Algeria who settled for silver and bronze medals respectively.

Ngii set a precedent for the other Kenyan athletes who stole the day by bagging three more medals for the country.

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World 800m champion Mary Moraa won Kenya’s second gold medal after triumphing in the women’s 400m.

The Commonwealth Games 800m champion clocked 50.57 to cross the finish line first ahead of Nigeria’s Elo Esther Joseph who timed 51.61. Benin’s Sita Sibiri clocked a national record of 51.74 to clinch bronze.

Moraa added her medal tally to two after she led the 4x400m mixed relay team to bronze at the same competition.

The quartet of Moraa, Peter Sanayek, Mourine Thomas and Kennedy Kimeu clocked 3:18.03 to finish third behind winners Nigeria and second-placed Botswana.

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World 3000m steeplechase record holder, Beatrice Chepkoech on the other hand delivered third gold for the country after crossing the finish line in a time of 9:15.62.

Chepkoech outsmarted the Tokyo 3000m steeplechase champion Peruth Jemutai of Uganda to second in 9:16.07 with the 22-year-old Lomi Muleta of Ethiopia wrapping up the podium in 9:26.63.

Kenya’s Purity Kirui and Caren Chebet finished in sixth and seventh place in 9:51.01 and 10:03.31 respectively.

Kenya's fourth gold was won by Aaron Kemei who triumphed in the men’s 800m. Kemei clocked 1:45.72 in first place as fellow countryman Alex Kipngetich followed closely in second, timing 1:45.73. Botswana’s Nkape Tumo clocked 1:46.04 to claim bronze.

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"Special applause to Emily Ngii (walk), Mary Moraa (400m), Beatrice Chepkoech (3000msc) and Aron Cheminingwa (800m) for bagging gold medals at the ongoing Africa Games in Accra, Ghana. We congratulate the rest of Team Kenya," Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba wrote.

Kenya’s medal tally at the games has now increased to 18 including four gold, three silver and 11 bronze.

Elsewhere, Angella Okutoyi stormed into the finals of the African Games when she beat top-ranked Mayar Sherif of Egypt in a four-hour semi-final clash on Wednesday afternoon.

Okutoyi fought back after losing the first set 7-5, to beat the Egyptian. She came back stronger in the second set, winning 7-5 to set up a tantalizing ultimate round decided by the tiebreaker that she won 7-6(5).

The USA-based player will meet sixth-seeded Egyptian Lamis Elhussein in the final. Elhussein (562) stunned third seed Sandra Samir (466) 6-3, 7-5 in the other semi-final match.

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