Kenya Lionesses squad, fixtures and timings for Montevideo challenge
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Reading Time: 3min | Thu. 07.03.24. | 08:52
The Kenya Lionesses are in Montevideo, Uruguay for the Challenger Series that kicks off on Friday 8th
Kenya women’s national team; Lionesses fixtures and timings for the second leg of the Challenger Series slated for March 8-10 in Montevideo have been released.
The Lionesses will play two matches on Friday 8 before their final pool match on Saturday 9 March.
They will begin their campaign with a match against Hong Kong at 6:36 pm before locking horns with Papua New Guinea at 11:26 pm in what will be their final pool match of the day.
On Saturday, they will tackle Belgium at 6:21 pm in the final pool match. Depending on their performance, they will proceed to the next stage of play.
At the same time, the team’s head coach Dennis Mwanja has expressed hopes that the Challenger Series will serve as an opportunity for the ladies to be exposed to high-intensity matches, just like their male counterparts Shujaa.
The Lionesses will be keen to pick up from where they left off in Dubai to be crowned champions. They ended the highly competitive tournament in second place after going down 19-5 to China in the final.
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The side also missed an opportunity to automatically qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as they succumbed to a 12-7 defeat against South Africa in the 2023 Rugby Africa Women’s 7s Cup final held in Monastir, Tunisia.
With the loss, Kenya finished in second place and still have one last chance to make it to the Paris 2024 Games via the Repechage tournament.
Speaking on their preparedness ahead of the Uruguay challenge, the team’s head coach Dennis Mwanja noted that they will be taking a day at a time.
“All those are strong opponents, and we are taking it in stride. We are not overconfident, but we are also not going to fill up numbers," Mwanja started.
For Mwanja, the ladies were training hard to earn a golden chance at the HSBC World Rugby 7s series, as well as a shot at the Paris Olympics. He viewed the challenge as a chance for his charges to be exposed to high-quality matches.
“The Challenger Series means so much to us because it is a precursor to the showdown for the Olympic qualifiers as well as having a shot at qualifying for the World Series. For us, it is also an opportunity to get a lot of valuable exposure and to be able to enjoy the game of rugby on and off the pitch. For the girls, it is a great learning experience because most of them have been watching Shujaa travel around the world and envying and desiring, but our hard work has also given us a spot to be able to travel and play with different nations," he concluded.
About the Challenger Series
The Series is played in three rounds across three continents, with the top four men’s and women’s teams in the World Rugby HSBC Challenger 2024 earning the opportunity to participate in a promotion and relegation play-off competition at the SVNS Grand Final in Madrid from May 31 to June 2, 2024.
The Challenger Series, introduced in February 2020, enhances the global development of rugby sevens and establishes a clear promotion pathway to the top tier of global rugby sevens.
This competition will feature teams ranked ninth to 12th from HSBC SVNS 2024.
Kenya Lionesses squad to Uruguay: Sheila Chajira (captain), Naomi Amuguni, Judith Okumu, Stella Wafula, Sharon Auma, Grace Adhiambo, Janet Okello, Christabel Lindo, Sinaida Nyachio, Maureen Muritu, Phoebe Akinyi, Terry Ayesa
Lionesses fixtures and playing times
Kenya vs Hong Kong 6:36 pm
Kenya vs Papua New Guinea 11:26 pm
Kenya vs Belgium 6:21 pm
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