Commonwealth Games: Oyoo angling for medal with Kenya 7s

The national men’s rugby 7s side, Shujaa through their skipper Nelson Oyoo have set a lofty target of returning home with a medal as the team kicks off their Commonwealth Games tourney on Friday.

Kenya is yet to bag a medal in the Commonwealth Games rugby 7s with their best place finish being seventh which was registered in successive editions back in 2010 and 2014.

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Oyoo who etched his name in Kenya 7s folklore back in 2016 by scoring the match winning try that sealed Shujaa’s first and only victory in a leg of the World Rugby Seven Series revealed that they have a target of securing a medal.

“We promise them (Kenyan fans) a medal that is what we are going for and they should come to support us. See you there! The boys are well spirited, the systems are working right. All our troops are in and we had our first session with the whole squad on Wednesday,” said Oyoo.

Since rugby 7s was included in the Commonwealth Games back in 1998 Kenya has participated in every edition as they look to join New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, Australia, and England who are the only nations to win a medal.

Shujaa are pooled alongside Australia, Jamaica and arch rivals Uganda with Oyoo noting that wins against the latter two are enough to secure a quarter final berth.

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“Those are the must win games in our Pool and they are going to determine if we are going to be in the medal bracket and if we are going to make it to the quarter final and that is what we are looking forward to.

The pressure is within us but getting our systems right is going to release a lot of pressure. We have gone back to our old style of playing where we are using our speed and physicality. The players have gelled in with the system and training has been good,” added Oyoo.