Kenya opened the medal account yesterday in an unheralded area.

The medals came in the shape of a bronze medal in the badminton tournament. Mercy Mwithia and Lavina Mathius lost their women's doubles semifinal to a Mauriatian pair. The Makueni and Kisumu Girls High School alumni can now ttake pride in the knoowledge that they have earned Kenya's first ever badminton medal at an African Games and also Kenya's first medal at these games.

"This is what Kenya is made of, a true demonstration of the rich diversity and ability in sports, "said Gordon Oluoch the chef de mission of the Kenyan contingent who was present at the medal giving ceremony.

When showing the medals to the media the national team manager thanked the federation for the good job they have done in exposing players. This is what he said contributed to the great performance by the girls.

Patrick Kinyua was set to meet South Africa's Prakash Viyanyash in the third round while Victor Odera tackles Nigerian Enejoh Abah in the same round.

In the other games, there were mixed results in beach volleyball where the women's team won their opening match 2-0 sets (21-18, 21-15) against DRC but the men lost by the same margin to Tunisia.

In weightlifting, three Kenyans competed in the opening day of the event at the Onana Sports Complex.

Winnie Lagat finished ninth lifting a total of 120kg (snatch 55, clean and jack (65), while in the 69kg category James Ochieng was sixth lifting 215kg (snatch100, clean and jack 120). In the 77 category Morris Aromo finished seventh overal with a total lift of 237 (snatch 106, clean and jack 131).