NAIROBI, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- A shoulder injury, which he picked up during the Safari Sevens tournament, will deny Kenya's top try scorer Collins Injera from competing at Rugby Africa Olympic qualifiers in Johannesburg.
The 33-year-old is however expected to make a full recovery in time for Kenya's tour of Dubai for the World Series in early December, where the national team Shujaa is expected to play against three-time series champions South Africa, England and Spain.
Rugby team manager Erick Ogweno confirmed that Injera will make the trip to South Africa, where Kenya will be up against continental champions Zimbabwe, Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria.
"Every team wants to go the Olympics. Kenya was lucky to make the finals in Rio Olympics in 2016 and we want to repeat the same for Tokyo 2020. So it will be a battle in which we cannot take any team for granted. The nature of Sevens is very unpredictable and we must be at our best," Ogweno said on Tuesday in Nairobi.
Though Kenya targets the top spot, in the absence of giants South Africa, who have automatic ticket having finished fourth in the World Series, there will also be two tickets open for the losers to compete at the World Repechage in June, where they will meet other regional qualifiers across the globe.
The tournament will take place in Johannesburg from Nov. 8-9. Kenya finished second in the last edition after they fell 17-5 to Zimbabwe in the final held in Tunisia in 2018.
Kenya's team is due to fly out to Johannesburg on Nov 6.
