The JKUAT Basketball Ladies team, Team Lynx, pose after winning the maiden KUSA National Basketball Tournament in Eldoret. They are ready to fly the University’s flag high during the EAUG 2016.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) will host the 10th Edition of the Eastern Africa University Games beginning December 16, 2016 at JKUAT Main Campus, Juja. This year’s games dubbed ‘Regional Sports for Health, Unity, Peace and Academic Excellence’ seek to promote interaction among students within the Eastern Africa universities, encouraging professional and personal growth through sports.
The games, awarded on a rotational basis within member states, were established in 1999 with the aim of promoting youth development and unity among East African countries through sports and bring together participating teams from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.
The week-long games that end December 21, 2016, will see over 4000 students from over 35 universities across the East African Region compete in 18 sports disciplines namely Athletics, Basketball, Football, Rugby, Volleyball, Tennis, Handball, Netball, Hockey, Swimming, Table-Tennis, Karate, Tae-kwon-do, Chess, Scrabble, Wood ball and Badminton.
While Ugandan Universities have dominated the games with Makerere University winning the 2nd to 5th Edition and Ndejje University winning the 6th to 9th Edition, a Kenyan University, Egerton University, hosted and won the 1st edition.
With preparation in earnest, JKUAT is looking forward to become the second Kenyan University to win the games and curtail the dominance of Ugandan Institutions. “Being the host, we have a lot of belief that we can be crowned the Kings of the 10th Eastern Africa University Games,” said JKUAT Sports Director, Moses Odeng, adding that JKUAT has strong teams that are buoyed with confidence given that some of the JKUAT players also turn up for national assignments in various sports discipline such as rugby, softball and Karate.
Over 35 Universities participating in 18 sports disciplines.
During the 9th edition of the games that took place at Uganda Christian University (UCU), Uganda, December 2014, JKUAT emerged position 19 overall out of the 47 universities, bagging 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 8 Bronze.
JKUAT is upbeat the games will elevate the level of competition and transform the status of sport in Eastern Africa by promoting interaction among students within the region.