Team Kenya have set sights on winning the Africa Junior Team 12 & Under Championships starting tomorrow in Botswana. Coach Collins Abala said the team is well prepared to face some of the top sides on the continent in the ten-day championship which concludes on October 14.
The team will feature Indiatsi Olembo, Khalil Nathani and Lewis Onyango in the boys’ category while in the girls’ category will have Bathsheba Ogamba, Paula Ouko, and Naila Gikunda.
The tournament will be played in two phases with the first five days featuring individual category and team events being staged in the second week.
The team has been training for the past month at the refurbished Nairobi Club courts—the same surface that will be used in Botswana. “Both teams have put in several hours of training in the past two months and in the last week, we have been fine-tuning our mental and physical preparedness. We are ready ahead,” he added. Abala said the team has worked on improving facets of play like the service returns for both teams.
“We have worked on our service returns and at the same time improved our agility on the court as well as our fitness. Team Kenya qualified by defeating Tanzania 3-0, Uganda 3-0 and Burundi 2-1. The girls booked their ticket during the East Africa qualifiers in August in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania.
The boys qualified for the African contest after finishing second overall during the qualifiers. They lost their opener 3-0 to Burundi but recovered from the defeat to thrash Tanzania 3-0 and Uganda 2-1 to advance to the championship Team Kenya will be up against hosts Botswana, Rwanda, Egypt and Tunisia.
Abala said the team is relishing the battle. “We are well prepared to face all our opponents.,” he said. The team left on Wednesday and will have a feel of the court today before action kickoffs on Friday.
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