NAIROBI, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Rugby Sevens team will play several build-up matches with foreign teams ahead of their show at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.

The Kenyan men's team will now join their women's colleagues for the Olympic Games as was the case four years ago at the Rio Olympics.

Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) said they will engage the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) on the team pitching camp in Japan prior to the start of the Olympics.

Head coach Paul Feeney said the team is returning to its former glory with the comeback of senior players and with early preparations, Kenya stands a high chance of winning a medal in Rugby Seven at the Tokyo Olympics.

"The boys played very well. We had a plan of how we wanted to play in this tournament. The players worked very hard throughout the competition. They trained for 11 weeks nonstop. So, I am very proud of them. We will take a break, then prepare for the 2019/20 World Rugby Sevens Series. We can play other foreign teams away from the World Series and see how we will be prior to the Tokyo Olympics," said Feeney on Sunday.

Kenya has crowned champions after securing a 29-0 victory over their neighbors Uganda in an entertaining final played in Johannesburg, South Africa, in a tournament that attracted 14 teams. Zimbabwe finished third in the tournament.

Uganda and Zimbabwe will both participate in a qualification tournament for the World Rugby Sevens Series to be played in April in Hong Kong and they also qualified for the Olympic repechage tournament which will be played in June next year.

Other teams that competed in the tournament were Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia, Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritius and Botswana. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)