Kenya joins 11 top African 7s teams looking for Tokyo qualification

Source: Xinhua| 2019-09-14 20:05:57|Editor: Xiaoxia
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NAIROBI, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Defending champions Kenya are seeded top in the Africa Women's Sevens Championships, which will also serve as the qualifier for the Tokyo, Olympic Games in 2020.

The two-day tournament will be hosted in Jemmel, Tunisia from Oct. 12-13. A total of 12 teams have confirmed participation.

This year's tournament serves as the African qualifying round for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Champions Kenya will face an acid test to retain their title and secure qualification to the Tokyo Olympics as they have to overcome giants South Africa, who returns to the tournament having overlooked it in the last five years.

The Kenyan team, nicknamed Lionesses, have been grouped with Ghana, Botswana, and Senegal in Pool A.

Kenya coach Kevin Wambua says the team is strong and has had more exposure after featuring in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the World Rugby Sevens Series qualifiers in Hong Kong, China.

"Winning the tournament is not something impossible. It has been our long-term goal to get into the World Series and return to the Olympics after our debut in Rio. As a team we have attained some growth and I hope it will help spur us to this level," the coach told reporters in Nairobi.

The Lionesses will be out to not only defend the title they won last year but also seek a return to the Olympics after replacing South Africa as Africa's representative at the 2016 games in Rio.

Though South Africa won the 2015 Africa qualifiers in Johannesburg, they opted not to go to Rio Games and Kenya took over the baton.

Pool B has Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia while Pool C will have hosts Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritius and Madagascar.

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