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Kenya eyes women' s rugby Olympic ticket at Africa qualifiers

Xinhua, September 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Kenya sevens rugby women' s team jetted out to South Africa for the Africa Olympic qualifiers on Sept. 26-27, which has attracted 10 countries.

Head coach Mike Shamiah exuded confident on Thursday his team will qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, which will see the return of the sevens rugby after two decades.

"Our preparations have gone on well and we had a good experience playing in Dublin in the IRB World Series qualifiers last month, which served as our build-up to the Olympics qualifiers. The team is in good shape and are well-conditioned to take on their opponents in Johannesburg," Shamiah told Xinhua in Nairobi.

Ireland and Japan claimed the two slots to join the IRB Women' s sevens core team after finishing top in Dublin while Kenya celebrates beating Colombia 5-0 to claim the Bowl title. Other teams that took part are Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Netherlands, Samoa, South Africa and Wales.

Africa has only one slot and Kenya must prepare to put up its best performance to beat host South Africa. Kenya is in a tough Pool B alongside Tunisia, Madagascar, Senegal and Botswana.

"We are motivated by our good preparations. Looking at the first game against Botswana, we expect a running and more contact game. But we have prepared and we hope to have a good tournament," said th coach.

Captain Catherine Abilla, however, decried lack of interest from Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) officials to develop women rugby is to blame for their frustrations and lack of financial incentives.

"We have been training hard for the Olympic qualifiers since January. But we are limited financial, yet they expect us to deliver the ticket to Rio," Abilla said.

Kenya Team: Laventer Oguta, Camylyn Oyuwayo, Rachel Mbogo, Janet Owino, Sheila Chajira, Catherine Abilla (captain), Irine Otieno, Celestine Masinde, Philadelphia Oland. Endi