Lethal Kenyan striker Denis Oliech could win his first accolade at Gor Mahia later this month. This is if the KPL giants manage to win the 2018 Safaricom Sports Personality of the year (Soya) in the male team category.
The defending KPL champions have been nominated in the category a long 4 other teams. The 15th edition of Soya awards will be held in Mombasa on January 11th.
The Soya gala, which has been co-sponsored by Mombasa County, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), Communication Authority (CA), Kenya Pipeline, Kenya Power, LapFund, New KCC, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), GOtv and Protel Studios will be held at Fort Jesus, the first time the gala night event will be held outside the capital city.
Gor, who defended the top flight league title to win their 17th KPL trophy, will battle it out with the national men’s football team Harambee Stars, Davis Cup Tennis team, Kanbis Cricket Sports Club team and the Kenya Deaf Handball team in the men’s category.
To make the shortlist of top five, K’Ogalo retained the KPL title with six matches to spare as well as going ahead to make history by reaching the Caf Confederation Cup group stage where they were a point away from qualifying to the quarter finals. They finished third in the group behind USM Alger, Rayon Sport and Azam.
Gor, the 2015 men’s team of the year, also defended the regional Super Cup that featured eight teams from Kenya and Tanzania, beating Simba SC 2-0 in the final to earn a ticket to play Everton in an international friendly match.
They had kicked-off the year with winning the season curtain raiser KPL Super Cup, edging out eternal rivals AFC Leopards 1-0. At the Cecafa Kagame Cup, Gor finished third.
Harambee Stars on the other hand highlighted their achievements of the year by breaking a 15-year jinx to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). Stars had a fine campaign that saw them shock Ghana 1-0 at Kasarani, holding Ethiopia 0-0 away before handing them a 3-0 beating at home.
Stars played eight matches in 2018, winning five, drawing one and losing two. Apart from Afcon qualifiers, they won 2-1 against New Zealand, 4-1 against Chinese Taipei, Malawi 1-0 in friendly matches while losing 3-0 and 2-0 to India.
The Davis Cup team had a successful year as well after surprising regional bigwigs to qualify for Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2019 following their Group III tournament victory in Nairobi.
Kenya broke the jinx to end their exile from Group II with top class performances, taking advantage of their home supporters to force their way to the top.