A new look Kenya Sevens outfit will attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games for the third time when the Africa Sevens-cum-Olympic qualifiers go down in Harare, Zimbabwe, this weekend.
Shujaa debuted at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Brazil and were involved at the 2020 Olympics in Japan but without much success after bowing out in the preliminary rounds on both occasions.
Kevin Wambua's charges have had an intensive two-month training stint as they hope to seal the automatic slot to the Paris Olympics next year, especially after getting relegated from the World Sevens Series in London in May.
To complicate matters for Kenya, powerhouses South Africa will be playing in the qualifiers for the first time after missing out on the automatic qualifying slots to the global games during the World Sevens Series last season, where they finished seventh.
The top four finishers in the Series, thus New Zealand, Fiji, Argentina and France, automatically qualified for the Paris Games.
Shujaa are in Pool 'B' of the two-day championships, where they open their campaign against minnows Nigeria at 11:06 am on Saturday. They then face Namibia at 1:50 pm before concluding their preliminary matches against Zambia at 4:34 pm.
Head coach Wambua said they have done video reviews of all the teams in the pool and will be taking one match at a time.
"We have done extensive reviews on our opponents on Day One. We are not taking them for granted but we will go all out for wins to ensure we top the pool and face a competitive opponent in the quarterfinals,” added Wambua.
He said they are not fazed by the prospect of playing against South Africa in the qualifiers.
“To qualify we have to play the best teams and if it's going to be South Africa or Zimbabwe or Uganda, we are more than ready. If anything South Africa are under more pressure than we are,” noted Wambua.
Wambua will rely on youth and experience in the squad with the likes of skipper Vincent Onyala, Brian Tanga and Kelvin Wekesa taking the lead. The dynamism of Samuel Asati and the brilliance and hard running of Festus Shiasi and George Ooro will also come in handy.
Onyala said they are more than ready for the challenge.
“It's a young side but a good number of us have played for three to four years and we are helping the younger players, who have shown that they have no fear,” noted Onyala.
The top two teams from the Rugby Africa 7s will also qualify for the 2024 World Rugby Challenger Series, save for South Africa, who are already a core side.