St Anthony’s Boys Kitale hockey head coach Kevin Lugalia believes Friends School Kamusinga are still their main title rivals as the School Games enter the regional stage .

Lugalia said they are determined to defend the title they won in 2019 but at the same time warned his guns that they must be at their best as they approach the national stage.

“They have a every good team that will cause problems for many teams these year but we are determined to stop them. We are putting in a lot of hard work in training to make sure we are at our best every time and I believe we will succeed again this year ,”said Lugalia.

St Anthony’s pipped Kamusinga at the national level before the latter exated revenge during the East Africa Games held in Arusha, Tanzania where Kamusinga triumphed 1-0 over their compatriots.

The experienced tactician says his side must improve in the final third in order to kill off matches easily.

“We are not scoring many goals as we should and that is a worry for me. It is a department we are really working on ahead of the regional games where for us every game will be like a final. We must learn to kill off the games early,” said the veteran tactician.

The Term One School Games resumed last week for the county and regional levels and will culminate with the national championships set for April 22-30 in Hill School and Moi Girls in Uasin Gishu County.

The Games reverted to the traditional format this year following the Covid-19 disruptions in March, 2020.