Lionesses miss Olympic slot with repechage final loss to China
Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 23.06.24. | 20:00
After two failed attempts, the Lionesses will now go back to the drawing board and right their wrongs in readiness for the upcoming challenges
Kenya 7s women's national team; Lionesses will not feature in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The determined ladies defied all the odds to reach the final stage but suffered a disappointing 24-7 loss in the hands of China. The final was played on Sunday in Monaco.
FT scores#KELionesses7s 7 - China 24
— Kenya Rugby (@OfficialKRU) June 23, 2024
Despite their hard work, our ladies miss out on the #Paris2024 qualifiers.
Congratulations to China 🇨🇳 for their qualification to the Olympics. pic.twitter.com/1MmoECPC5d
They scored their sole try courtesy of Janet Okello. Grace Okulu added the extras.
Despite the loss, the ladies have shown great determination and zeal to reach this stage.
Run to final
Lionesses began their campaign with a dominant 31-5 victory over Samoa before seeing off Argentina 19-17 in the final pool match. They only played two pool matches because their opponents Papua New Guinea pulled out of the tournament.
2/2 dominant wins saw them top Pool A with eight points, earning them a slot in the tournament's quarterfinals.
At this stage, they met Argentina again, and this time edged them 15-12 to set up a crunchy semifinal against Czechia.
They made light work of Czechia, defeating them 12-10 to meet China in the final where they failed to sparkle.
This was not the first meeting between the two sides this year.
They met during the Challenger Series in Dubai back in January where Lionesses defeated them 17-12 in the opening pool match, before China bounced back to winning ways to defeat the Kenyans 19-5 in the tournament's final.
This year, the ladies have failed to earn an Olympic slot as well as an HSBC World Rugby 7s Series spot, but they will go back to the drawing board and right their wrongs in readiness for the upcoming challenges.
Olympics Repechage Squad
Sheila Chajira, Naomi Amuguni, Stella Wafula, Maureen Muritu, Christabel Lindo, Grace Okulu, Sinaida Mokaya, Sharon Auma, Janet Okello, and Judith Okumu Edith Nariaka and Freshia Oduor
Lionesses run in Monaco
Kenya vs Papua New Guinea - Not played
Kenya 31-5 Samoa
Kenya 19-17 Argentina
Quarterfinal
Kenya 15-12 Argentina
Semifinal
Kenya 12-10 Czechia
Final
Kenya 24-7 China
