Kenya sevens head coach Kevin "Bling” Wambua has said despite falling in the group stages at the Paris Olympics, they took a lot of positives from the tournament and will come back stronger.
Wambua said they wanted to get out of the elusive group stage having failed in the last two editions of the summer games.
However, they expected tough opposition in Group B and failed to achieve their target.
Shujaa lost 31-12 to Argentina despite a bright start, followed by a 21-7 defeat to Australia before concluding group B matches with a 26-0 beating in the hands of Samoa, to drop to the placing matches.
However, Kenya finished ninth after a comfortable 10-5 win over Samoa in the ninth-place final, after overcoming Uruguay 19-14 in the semi-finals.
This was an improved performance from the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo games where Shujaa managed positions 10 and 11 respectively
“We had a young squad that was playing their first major tournament, while our opponents including World sevens champions Argentina had their full-strength squads. Basically, we used the Olympics as pre-season ahead of the World Sevens series and we hope to improve,” Wambua said.
Wambua pointed out that Australia head coach John Manenti congratulated them for a good fight, and confessed that they feared Shujaa would roll past them, had they started the game on a high note.
The experienced coach led Shujaa back to the main HSBC World Sevens on June 3, 2024, after navigating tough qualifiers that saw two regular sevens teams Samoa and Canada relegated to the Challenger Series.
Generally, Wambu believes they tested themselves against top sides at the tournament, ticked all the necessary boxes, and will be looking to polish their strengths and weaknesses ahead of the World Sevens Series 2024-2025 season opener at Dubai and Cape Town Sevens in December.
“The game is evolving at a very high pace and of course, we do our homework before matches, and always adopt to matches depending on the opponents,” Wambua said.
As Wambua reflected on achieving the team’s goals of qualifying for the Olympics and getting Kenya back to the World Series in his first year as coach, saying he will shift focus on the Ingo sevens as the Sportpesa Sevens circuit continues this weekend in Kakamega.
He also thanked his backroom staff, players and the Kenyan contingent in Paris for the massive support, and the endearing love.
Meanwhile, debutant sevens star Chrisant Ojwang said playing in the Paris Olympics games was an amazing experience, adding that he will be looking for better tidings at the HSBC World Sevens.
"We gave it our best but we had a tough pool that comprised top core sevens sides who punished our mistakes. But we are hoping to go back to the drawing board and come back stronger," the Nakuru RFC star said.