The Kenya Lionesses qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Sunday 13th October after the curtains fell on the Africa Women’s 7s tournament that doubled up as the Olympic Qualifiers.
Up until the final, the Lionesses performance was nothing short of perfect as they completed their day one top of their pool and were ranked first overall having registered the highest points difference. Their clinical performance was clearly seen in the knock out matches on day two as they beat Zimbabwe 36-5 progressing to the Cup semifinal.
A 19-00 win over the hosts, Tunisia, in the semifinal kept the Lionesses hopes of defending the Africa Women7s Championship alive confirming their finals date with arch-rivals Women Boks.
With the ball in hand, the Lionesses were unstoppable and when they got to the opponents red zone, they left with maximum points, 14 in this case. Their defense was equally tested and when Women Boks spotted a crack in the defense, they exploited it and registered 15 points for themselves claiming the 2019 Africa Women7s Title.
“It was an amazing experience. I am happy for the young girls who were able to express themselves.
I’m quite impressed with the performance of my players. We really wanted to win this tournament,
but things didn’t go our way. We knew they we ready for us since they knew how we were playing so
we changed our structure and played heads up rugby. Things could have been better for us but I’m
happy with my players nonetheless,” said Head Coach Felix Oloo. (Source Rugby Africa)
By virtue of getting to this final, the Lionesses had already secured their Tokyo 2020 Olympics spot as the African representatives to earn the direct qualification. This will be the second time the Lionesses represent the Country in the Olympics with the first one being 2016.
Lionesses Qualifiers scorecard
Pool Match 1: The Lionesses 36 – Ghana 0 (W)
Pool Match 2: The Lionesses 51 – Botswana 0(W)
Pool Match 3: The Lionesses 36 – Senegal 0(W)
Cup QF: The Lionesses 36 – Zimbabwe 5(W)
Cup SF: Tunisia 00 – The Lionesses 19(W)
Cup Final: South Africa 15 – The Lionesses 14(L)
