By Kenneth Wepukhulu
World champion South Africa’s Senzo Gumeda is in Nairobi eyeing the Mchana Grand Open Africa title in the Kenyan capital slated for Wednesday, December 4th-8th, 2024.
Senzo will battle in the star studded competition where he will face the All Africa runners up Ceasar Chandigah from Uganda in the competition featuring players 13 countries.
The defending champion Uganda’s Ibrahim Ssejemba a third place finisher in the All African championship will be seeking to retain the title.
The All African champion South Africa’s Aden Joseph pulled out at the last minute to contest in another event being staged in Europe.
The second edition of the championship will feature 256 men and 64 women in the three day event at Mchana Pub and Grill along Ngong Road.
The participating countries include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Portugal and Britain.
The event will as from this year include the women’s category to add to the men’s and team’s categories which featured in last year’s edition.
The All Africa Pool Association Vice President Doreen Wandia said they are making the tournament grow by expanding it to accommodate others and will from next year have a category for Juniors.
The defending champion Uganda’s Ibrahim Ssejemba said that he will not underestimate anyone saying all the competitors have an equal chance of winning.
The Tanzanian squad said they stood a high chance of winning the team title saying they were not sure of bagging an individual’s title.
Team Kenya captain Collins Tuwei exuded confidence that the hosts will put up a good show aiming at a podium finish in any of the categories.