Kenya's junior rugby sevens eye gold, revenge at Africa Youth Games

Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-20 21:44:01|Editor: Li Xia

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By John Kwoba

NAIROBI, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Sevens rugby junior team will hunt for gold and seek revenge on defending champions South Africa for a humiliating rout four years ago at the Africa Youth Games.

Kenya lost 60-0 to South Africa in the final of last tournament, four years ago in Gaborone, Botswana and will want some respect when they return to the tournament as part of the 22 teams, which will field more than 300 athletes at the rugby tournament when the African Youth Games are to be held in Algiers, Algeria in July.

Kenya Rugby Union director Thomas Odundo said the present youth team has gained a lot more experience and will present tough challenge to their opponents in Algiers.

"We have the team and will wait for the communication from National Olympic Committee of Kenya. But the idea is to improve on our second place finish and go for the gold," Odundo said Sunday in Nairobi.

South Africa won gold four years ago in Botswana with Kenya settling for silver while Zimbabwe had the bronze medal.

The teams that have confirmed participation in the Africa Youth Games are hosts Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo, DR Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

"The African Youth Games will be a real celebration of sport and its values. It is critical for the young players to be exposed to the high level performance and develop into top players who can be selected for the World Series," added Odundo.

The African Youth Games will serve as continental qualifier for the Olympic Youth Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct. 1-6 where only the winners will qualify to join Argentina, Japan, USA, Australia and France.

Rugby Africa President Abdelaziz Bougja has since said the continent has gained tremendously in the sport and was encouraged by the popularity of rugby at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

"That is why we have decided to make the third edition of the African Youth Games a major objective for the 2018 season," said Bougja.