Kenya Rugby Sevens won’t be participating in the All African Games slated to take place on September in Congo, Brazzaville.
This is according to Sports commissioner Gordon Oluoch after they held a meeting in Brazzaville, Congo two weeks ago.
He reiterated that the organisers of the event resolved amicably that the event would clash with both the commencement of the IRB Sevens Series in October and Olympic qualifiers set for South Africa in November.
“We had a meeting and the organisers told us due to the congested rugby Sevens calendar, it is not possible to run the discipline at the Pan African Games,” added Oluoch.
Oluoch expressed his disappointment over the absence of Rugby Seven as Kenya had a significant chance of being on the podium in Brazaville.
Rugby was last played at the All Africa Games in Nairobi in 1987 under the 15-aside format and was largely a demonstration sport, where Zimbabwe took victory by winning all their matches. Kenya were second, Madagascar third and Nigeria fourth.
The Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) CEO Ronald Bukusi, said the Kenya Sevens team will now focus on the Olympic qualifiers scheduled to take place in Johannesburg in November
“With the All Africa Games out of the way, we now focus on the Olympic qualifiers for both our men and women’s teams and the start of the IRB Sevens Series later in the year,” added Bukusi.