PARIS, France, Jul 27 – Kenya registered mixed results on Saturday at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a day after the spectacular opening ceremony.
The national rugby sevens team picked up where they left yesterday, winning back-to-back matches to see the Kevin Wambua charges finish 9th overall in the 2024 edition.
The result saw Kenya replicate the Tokyo 2020 performance, where they finished in the same position after winning two matches.
After beating Uruguay in sudden death on Thursday, 19-14, Shujaa booked a date with Samoa for the 9-10 place contest.
Kenya did not disappoint as they avenged the 26-0 defeat in their last Pool B match against Samoa, this time registering a 10-5 victory thanks to a brace of tries from John Okoth.
Head coach Kevin Wambua was contented with his boys’ performance saying it’s a good show owing to the fact that majority of his players were inexperience.
“I am so happy with what the boys have done, finishing 9th like Tokyo, is not a stagnant nor improvement, for us it was about getting the experience. This team cannot be compared to the Tokyo one that had stars the likes of Collins Injera, Andrew Amonde and Willy Ambaka… it’s pretty a young squad,” Wambua said.
Shujaa will now turn attention to preparing for the world series where they are making a swift comeback.
Earlier on, fencer Alexandra Ndolo, who wrote history as the first Kenyan to compete at the Olympics, was eliminated on sudden death by a point in the women’s Epee round of 32.
The German-born Kenyan lost 12-13 to Olena Kryvytska.
It was a tight competition that saw the two world silver medallists go toe-to-toe, tying points in most of the three rounds.
Alexandra, who was looking to become first Kenyan to win a medal in the event, was disappointed, but had to content with the slim defeat.
“I lost by one touch. I gave my best, taking it down to the wire… I wish it could have lasted longer because I was determined to win a medal for Kenya, but it did not go my way,” Alexandra said.
In swimming, Kenya’s United based Mohamed Ridhwan finished 4th in his men’s 400m freestyle Heat 1 to bow out after timing 4:05.14.
Kenya’s next competition at the game is on July 29, when the national volleyball team, Malkia Strikers open her campaign against Brazil