Feeney in deep water as Kenya Sevens seeks Africa’s Olympic ticket – Xinhua | English.news.cn

NAIROBI, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) — Technical director Paul Feeney has urged Kenya to seek revenge and reclaim the Africa men’s sevens rugby tournament, which starts in Johannesburg on Saturday.

It will be the second competition for the New Zealander who was named coach of Kenya teams two in August.

He is the fifth foreigner to oversee Kenya rugby team after Paul Treu, Jerome Paarwater of South Africa, Ian Snook (New Zealand) and Englishman Mike Friday.

Feeney wants the team to grab the second chance to qualify for the Olympics after missing out in the World Series. The third option is to finish second and head to the world repechage tournament in June 2020.

“The belief is there, the determination is there and we are looking forward to reclaiming the cup which we lost last year to Zimbabwe,” said Feeney.

The New Zealander has named his final 12-man strong side, eyeing to hit two birds with one stone.

Alongside winning the Africa men’s sevens trophy, there is everything to gain as they will claim the sole ticket for the continent to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The tournament features a total of 14 teams that are ranked as per last year’s results. Kenya is second after falling to Zimbabwe in the final held in Tunisia.

Other teams are Uganda, Madagascar, Zambia, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Namibia, Ghana, Botswana, Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.

Feeney has recalled senior players, who had boycotted the team action last season led by captain Andrew Amonde, who will be assisted by Jacob Ojee and Jeffrey Oluoch.

The trio of Daniel Taabu, Johnstone Olindi and Vincent Onyala has made the cut to represent the country at the qualifiers together with regulars Bush Mwale, Nelson Oyoo and Alvin Otieno.

Oscar Dennis, who last featured for Kenya during the Asian tour makes a comeback to the team joined by William Ambaka and Billy Odhiambo. However, a shoulder injury has ruled out top try scorer Collins Injera from the trip.

“It will be best for us to seal the Tokyo 2020 ticket while in Johannesburg as opposed to proceeding to the repechage in June. It’s every athlete’s dream to compete at the Olympics,” said team manager Erick Ogweno.

“The preparations have been ideal, I trust the best we’ve had in years and this was topped up by the Safari Sevens win for the young lads. The preparations and playing and winning Safari Sevens tournament in Nairobi will give us the momentum we just required to enable us to reclaim the trophy.”