ITF to decide Angella Okutoyi's fate next week
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Reading Time: 2min | Sat. 29.06.24. | 20:14
The 20-year-old hopes to become the first Kenyan tennis player to make the Olympic Games
A key International Tennis Federation (ITF) decision regarding Angella Okutoyi's possible participation in next month's Paris 2024 Olympic Games is expected to be released on Monday.
Tennis Kenya, through its Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua, earlier this month lodged an appeal to the international tennis body, seeking consideration for Okutoyi to be included in the Summer Games, having won this year's African Games title, but missed the qualifying standards due to an extraordinary squeezed qualification calendar.
Tennis Kenya, in the appeal, argued that Okutoyi was only granted two months to make the cut, as opposed to the standard eight months, owing to the African Games being postponed by an year to March 2024.
In an interview with The Star on Friday, Tennis Kenya Executive Officer Nancy Nduku confirmed that the outcome of the appeal would be made known next week.
“We have to wait and see what happens. At the moment, It is out of our hands and we can only wait for the decision. I hope it's going to be favourable for her and us as a country,” she said, adding that a successful outcome would be "big for the tennis fraternity in Kenya."
Currently ranked 495th in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings, Okutoyi needed to be in the top 400 positions by the June 10 deadline , but missed out after failing to win her qualification tournaments in Charlottesville, Florida, Bethany Beach and Monastir.
And in a separate interview with BBC this week, Okutoyi expressed her desire to play in the Olympic Games saying: "That has always been my childhood dream, just to see myself in the Olympics, be an Olympian and come out with some silverware. I would say the Olympics is a huge event, huger than the Grand Slams. It's so big."
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