Cecafa Cup draws pushed to Friday

THE draws for the 2013 East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup, to be staged in Kenya, have been moved to Friday, November 15.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

THE draws for the 2013 East and Central Africa Senior Challenge Cup, to be staged in Kenya, have been moved to Friday, November 15.The exercise had initially been scheduled today. The draws will be conducted at a breakfast for ambassadors from the 12-member Cecafa nations, according to organisers.At the same event, the official title sponsor will also be unveiled.All the preliminary matches will be played in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and Machakos, according to Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye.Five Kenyan cities will play host to the games."For easier management and coordination, we will have the preliminary matches in Nairobi and Machakos then the other towns – Kisumu, Mombasa and Mumias – will host some knockout matches,” Musonye said.Musonye said he is impressed with the pace at which organization and planning for the championships that start on November 27 to December 12 is moving and is hoping for a successful tournament."We had expressed our reservations about the readiness of Kisumu but with the decision to have the preliminary matches in Nairobi, the lakeside town has more time to prepare,” said Musonye.A team of Cecafa technical committee officials will arrive in the country on Thursday to tour the venues and make the final submission on their readiness to host the competition.The countries that have confirmed participation include hosts Kenya, defending champions Uganda, Tanzania (mainland), Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Sudan, Zanzibar, and Eritrea. Cecafa is still waiting for a word from Burundi, while Zambia, one of the two guest sides have confirmedThe other invited country Malawi is yet to confirm.Meanwhile, the official kick off of the competition on November 27 will coincide with the tour of the World Cup trophy of Kenya.