The Ministry of Sports Culture and Heritage hosted our National Sevens teams to a homecoming breakfast on Tuesday 2nd March at the Ole Sereni Hotel. The team landed this morning from Spain where they were part of the contingent that took part in the Madrid7s on 20th/21st and 27th/28th February.
The @kenyalioness and @KenyaSevens have landed safely from the #Madrid7s and are currently at the @OSereni having breakfast courtesy of @moscakenya.@AMB_A_Mohammed pic.twitter.com/5J7otBKMoc
— Kenya Rugby (@OfficialKRU) March 2, 2021
On the first weekend, the ladies finished sixth but upon working on their challenges, they improved their performance and finished in the runners up position in the second tournament while Shujaa finished as runner’s up in both tournaments.
The breakfast was attended by various members of the Ministry of Sports, most notable being the Ministry’s secretary Josephine Onunga and Sports Fund Ag. CEO Mark Wambugu. The KRU Board was represented by Chairman Oduor Gangla, Honorary Secretary Ian Mugambi, and Director of Women’s rugby Moses Ndale.
Both Captains started us off with a vote of thanks to the Ministry and KRU for their continuous support in ensuring they get as much preparation needed as the Olympics draw closer.
The @kenyalioness Captain Phila Orlando an @kenyasevens Captain Nelson Oyoo
thank @moscakenya for their support towards the teams as they went to Spain for the #Madrid7s. pic.twitter.com/qLcxx43cF2— Kenya Rugby (@OfficialKRU) March 2, 2021
Speaking at the breakfast, Chairman Gangla started off by offering a message of condolences to the Cabinet Secretary on the unfortunate passing of her brother. “I must mention that Madam CS has been a very strong supporter of KRU and our National Teams. She very graciously accepted to the patron of our National Women’s team. Her positivity is what stands out even in the face of adversity and as a Union, we’re very grateful for her support towards the teams.” He then went ahead to congratulate the two teams for continuously putting our country on the map and making Kenyans proud saying, “given that we haven’t had competitive rugby in about one year, the Madrid7s tournament showed that we will be serious contenders at Olympics in July. To the players who put their bodies on the line, to the technical benches lead by Innocent Simiyu and Felix Oloo, I know it’s a lot of work to get the teams looking this good on the pitch but keep doing what you do knowing that the Board and our partners are fully behind you.
“Special thank you to the Ministry of Sports who have been our anchor sponsors with these two teams ensuring we were able to honor the #Madrid7s as well as prepare for the Olympics. We shall continue liaising with the sports fund to ensure that the teams are well catered for as they continue with their preparations,” he concluded.
“We’re very honored to be here in front of these gallant men and women who I had the pleasure of accompanying to Madrid these last two weeks. What I can say is that they have both done us proud. A few promises were made and fulfilled and that’s just the beginning of our support. I was very impressed by what I saw and we have identified gaps and with the assistance of the KRU, we will see how to enhance the potential witnessed in Spain,” added Sports Fund CEO Mark Wambugu.
Before the Captains presented their trophies to the Ministry of Sports Secretary Josephine Onunga, she spoke to the teams commending them on their performance. “On behalf of the government, we are very excited and honored to host you for this breakfast after achieving such a feat at the Madrid7s. The government celebrates you for flying the flag very high and it has put aside resources to support and help you in your training facilities and in other assignments that will help your preparations for the Olympics so as to ensure we maintain our feat in the rugby world.”
The players are expected to self isolate for the next few days after which they will have their covid19 tests before resuming training. Read all about their Madrid7s performance here, here, and here.
