Kenya Sevens contenders for Rio Olympics, says Benjamin Ayimba
Tuesday 19 April 2016 12:41, UK
Kenya have emerged as a contender for a Rio Olympic medal in the rugby sevens, says coach Benjamin Ayimba.
Kenya scored a shock victory in the Singapore Sevens final on Sunday and their coach believes that confidence boost will make them an even greater threat at the Rio Olympics.
"For our players, this win will give them huge amounts of self-belief," said Kenya coach Ayimba.
"We've always had the potential, but knowing now that we can beat the best will give us even more confidence for success in future tournaments. This will make us an even better and more dangerous team to play against."
It was Kenya's first tournament win in a world series event after they had made two previous finals in Australia in 2009 and New Zealand in 2013, and it couldn't have come at a better time with the Olympics just four months away.
Kenya have only ever won medals in two different sports at the Olympics: athletics and boxing. Of the 25 gold medals they have won, 24 have been in track and field.
"We hope it inspires the kids to play rugby and it just gives them a lot more heroes to look up to so for us it's a major milestone," Ayimba added.
"The target for Rio is always to win."
One of the stars of Kenya's sevens triumph was Collins Injera, who kicked a 40-metre penalty to clinch a 15-12 win over Argentina in the semi-finals before scoring two of his team's six tries in the 30-7 rout of Fiji in the final, and the 29-year-old said his only thoughts are on winning in Rio.
"Kenyan rugby has come a long way, it's such an amazing thing," Injera said. "Everyone is working towards the Olympics so for us, (winning in Singapore) was a very big step.
"Rugby is really developing in Kenya. We're putting new systems into the junior levels to help build up the game and now that we've won a final, more people will start following us."
