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Kevin Wambua has selected a mixture of youth and experience for the 2024 Olympic qualifiers and believes he has enough quality to beat fancied South Africa
Kenya Sevens coach Kevin Wambua believes his squad is capable of going all the way and winning the Africa Sevens title which will see them seal an Olympic ticket to the 2024 Games in Paris, France.
Shujaa’s path to victory will be made harder this time by the presence of South Africa who are taking part in the qualifies after failing to secure a ticket to the Paris Games in the World Sevens Series but Wambua is unfazed.
Wambua has named a squad which has a mixture of youth and experience for the two-day tournament set to take place in Harare, Zimbabwe this weekend with KCB’s Vincent Onyala, Kabras Sugar duo Brian Tanga and Kevin Wekesa as well as Menengai Oilers’ Bildad Ogeta among the regulars.
“We have had good preparations, we have had back-to-back camps where we just to set our foundation on how we want to play. There were some things we really wanted to improve and the camps were quite helpful,” Wambua said on Tuesday.
“The boys have responded well to our physical, tactical and technical training sessions and I believe we are in a very good place for the qualifiers.”
Shujaa are in Pool B alongside Zambia, Namiba and Nigeria and Wambua believes the best way to tackle their opponents is winning one game at a time and ensuring they finish top of their group to get a favourbale quarter-final draw that will put them in good stead to reach the semi-finals.
“We have to take a game at a time, play every game like a final. Everybody is focused on South Africa but we have to beat the other teams in the group first. Our approach is quite simple, we have our individual and team profiles for our opponents and teams we are going to meet later on, probably on day two,” he added.
“We want to be in a position where by at the end of day one, we top the pool so that we get a favourable draw in the quarters and after that, is a game at a time and the boys believe they can go all the way.”
Pool A features South Africa, Madagascar, Tunisia and Ivory Coast with Pool C comprising of Uganda, hosts Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and Algeria.
Kenya will begin their Olympic qualifiers against Nigeria then tackle Namibia before completing group stage action against Zambia.
The winner of the qualifiers will seal their ticket to the Paris 2024 Games and if Kenya fail to win the tournament, they will hope to finish second or third to qualify for the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Tournament while also making it to the 2024 Challenger Series.
KENYA SEVENS SQUAD FOR AFRICA SEVENS: Vincent Onyala, Samuel Asati, Festus Shiasi (KCB); George Ooro, Nigel Amaitsa (Strathmore);John Okoth, Bildad Ogeta (Menengai Oilers); Tony Omondi (Mwamba); Brian Tanga, William Muhanji, Kevin Wekesa (Kabras Sugar); Patrick Odongo (Daystar Falcons).
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