Shujaa defeat South Africa in Africa Men’s 7s final to make Paris 2024 Olympics

It was all jubilation and tears in Harare, Zimbabwe as Kenya 7s national team staged a second half comeback to see off South Africa 17-12 in the final of the Africa Men’s 7s final played on Sunday 17 September.

The team which has six debutants, is reaping the fruits of an intensive two-month training stint as they hoped to seal the automatic slot to the Olympics next year, especially after getting relegated from the World Sevens Series in London in May.

The new faces were Nygel Amaitsa, Samuel Asati, Patrick Odongo, Beldad Ogeta, Festus Shiasi, and William Mwanji.

Kenyans settled fast into the game, and minutes later it was speedster Patrick Odongo cutting through South Africa’s defense for a five-pointer. Tony Omondi's conversion attempt was successful.

The Blitzboks then responded with an unconverted try to see the scores rise to 7-5. The South Africans would then score another unconverted try to take the lead in the dying minutes of the opening half.

Kevin Wambua’s charges came in guns blazing in the final half, to score five more points through Patrick Odongo’s fancy speed. The conversion went off.

Shujaa outmuscle Zimbabwe to book Africa Men’s 7s final spot

Blitzboks also scored to see the score tie at 12-12.

John Okoth then scored the final try for Kenya to blow the scores to 17-12 before the sound of the final whistle leading to tears of joy from the fans.

The Kenyans have had an outstanding performance since setting foot in Zimbabwe. They checked into the South African nation with a resounding 34-10 win over Nigeria before whitewashing sorry Namibia 51-0 in their second pool match. They ended the day on a high with a 38-12 victory over Zambia.

Their fine form kept going and they defeated Burkina Faso 26-0 in the quarterfinals before seeing off Zimbabwe 35-10 in the semis.

With that performance, Kenya has booked a spot in the Paris 2024 Olympics.