Kenya Lionesses hope to qualify for the Olympic Games for the third time in a row when they grace the Africa Cup Sevens-cum-Olympic qualifiers in Tunisia this weekend.
The Lionesses hope to add Paris Olympics to their Olympic appearances at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 editions, where they bowed in the preliminary rounds.
Before departure for Tunisia, the team received a Sh1.5m grant from the National Olympic Committee of Kenya.
The Lionesses will be keen to erase the memories of last year's Africa Championships/ World Cup and Commonwealth Games qualifiers in Tunisia, where they finished a disappointing fifth.
Here, they failed to reach the quarterfinals after posting mixed results. They beat Zambia 22-0 and 12-5, thrashed Ghana 20-0 but lost 10-7 to Uganda.
Coach Dennis Mwanja said they learnt their lessons from last year's tournament.
"It was not a good experience but we learnt valuable lessons in terms of preparations. The girls are physically and mentally prepared this time and we have worked on several aspects of our play. We are relishing the challenge,” said Mwanja.
The Lionesses open their campaign against Zambia at 11:44 am, face Ghana at 2:24 pm and conclude their preliminary matches against Madagascar at 5:40 pm.
The quarterfinals, semifinals and final will take place on Sunday.
Mwanja, a former Kenya Sevens international, said they will take one game at a time in the two-day event.
“The nature of Sevens is very unpredictable. We know all the teams want to qualify for the Olympics and we will, therefore, respect but not fear them," added Mwanja.
Pool 'A' will feature powerhouses South Africa, Uganda, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
The KCB assistant coach said they will have to adjust now that hot and humid conditions are expected.
"We have adjusted our training sessions to mirror what to expect in Tunisia," he added.
Skipper Grace Adhiambo said the squad is ready to emulate what the men's team did in Zimbabwe last month.
"Shujaa have given us the blueprint and we want to go all out and do the country proud and qualify for Paris. We are up to the challenge,” observed Adhiambo.
Before departure, the team had a four-day training camp at the KCB Leadership Centre in Karen.
