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The Nairobian

Paris 2024: Shujaa finish ninth at Olympic games

Rugby

By Washington Onyango | Jul 28, 2024

Kenya Sevens recorded their best performance in the Olympics after beating Samoa 10-5 in the 9th place playoff at the Stade de France.

Shujaa landed the opening try in the third minute of the match after John Okoth went over the whitewash to land a corner post try.

Anthony Omondi’s conversion drifted wide. Shujaa’s defensive skills were commendable as the didn’t let the Samoans go through at any point and held on to the 5-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Okoth landed his brace in the 8th minute of the match as he sliced through the defenders to dot down the second try but the conversion once again was unsuccessful.

Three minutes later, despite Asati’s defensive efforts, Samoa’s Motu Opetai grounded the ball to narrow the gap to 10-5. Their conversion attempt was also unsucessful. Shujaa held on to this score and secured the much needed victory to seal off the 9th place victory.

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This goes down as the teams highest performance in the Olympics. When sevens rugby was included into the tournament starting with the 2016 Rio Olympics, Shujaa finished eleventh.

In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they finished 10th but in Paris 2024, they have gone a step higher improving on their Olympics trajectory.

Head coach Kevin Wambua expressed satisfaction with his team's performance, highlighting the

experience gained by his relatively inexperienced players.

"I am so happy with what the boys have done. Finishing 9th, like in Tokyo, is not stagnant nor an improvement; for us, it was about getting the experience. This team cannot be compared to the Tokyo one that had stars like Collins Injera, Andrew Amonde, and Willy Ambaka… it’s a pretty young squad," Wambua said.

Shujaa will now shift their focus to preparing for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, where they are poised to make a swift comeback.

Meanwhile, hosts France were crowned Olympic champions after they edged out defending champions Fiji 28-7.

Shujaa’s scorecard at the 2024 Paris Olympics:

Group B Preliminary matches

Argentina 31 – Kenya 12

Australia 21 – Kenya 7

Samoa 26 – Kenya 0

9th Place semifinal

Uruguay 14 – Kenya 19

9th place Final

Samoa 5 – Kenya 10