Kenya Lionesses have received a shot in the arm with the return of Phoebe Akinyi to the team ahead of the Challenger Seven Series scheduled for March in South Africa.
The Northern Suburb forward underwent surgery in June last year and missed the Olympic repechage tournament in Monaco, the Safari sevens, and the Africa Cup sevens as she was recuperating.
She had played in the opening tournaments of the Challenger Series in Dubai and Montevideo early last year.
Head coach Dennis Mwanja said the return of Akinyi alongside Naomi Amuguni is a big boost to the side as the girls chase qualification to become a core team in the 2025/2026 World Seven Series season.
“I am very delighted that Akinyi is back. She is one of our team’s experienced campaigners, and it bodes well for our preparation for the start of the series,” he added.
Mwanja also hinted at the possibility of Kenya playing the top ranked Poland team alongside the Czech Republic as part of their build up for the Challenger Sevens Series.
“We had those conversations with KRU CEO in December and they had expressed their desire to come down to Nairobi later this month. It will be a big boost for us to play them and maybe bring on board Uganda to sharpen ourselves before we go to South Africa for the start of the series,” Mwanja said.
The KCB assistant coach said missing out on qualification to the final four last season is fuelling their ambition to qualify this time around.
“Last year, we came close but had one bad tournament in Uruguay which cost us our place in the final four. However with the sponsorship, we have received, the desire and the hunger is there from the girls to do well this time around,” he noted.
The team trains four times a week and are planning to have a training camp before departure to South Africa mid-next month.
The Lionesses finished the last season with 38 points to place fifth overall.
They also missed the Paris
Olympics after losing 24-7 to
China in the final during the
repechage in Monaco.
