Rugby sevens propels Kenya onto world sporting stage
Kenya - hitherto a virtual non-entity in the world of rugby - has
been propelled on to the international stage following their recent
impressive showing in the sevens World series.
Less than three years after launching an aggressive campaign, the
national sevens team, known as Shujaa (Kiswahili for heroes), have
caught the imagination by registering impressive victories over rugby
superpowers including South Africa, New Zealand, England and Argentina.
They have shown their consistency on the sevens World series tour
this season and were just one game away from winning their first-ever
cup final.
Their performance now ranks them on a par with athletics - Kenya’s
dominant sport since independence in the 1960s.
“Awesome. Absolutely awesome,” remarked Jack ‘Saik’ Sikenyi, a former
rugby player, who was among thousands of fans who had thronged a popular
Nairobi pub to cheer the team during the London Sevens last week.
“The team keeps improving on their game in every tournament and we
are rooting for them all the way. It is only a matter of time before we
win the cup,” he said.
Kenya’s superlative showing - coming from a country where rugby is
not a traditional sport - has intensified calls for the rugby sevens to
be made an Olympic sport by 2016.
The chairman of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK)
Kipchoge Keino, who is also an IOC executive committee member, has
lended his support. “I believe that rugby sevens has a great potential
to become an Olympic sport,” the athletics legend said during the IRB
World junior rugby championships in Nairobi this year.
The IOC is expected to make the decision in Copenhagen in October and
it is highly likely that rugby will be one of two new sports to be
elected for the Olympic Games in 2016.
Rugby last featured in the Olympics in 1924 in the 15-a-side format
having made its debut in 1900.
Pundits point to the entertaining nature that the sevens elicits.
It is packed with action, pace and high intensity - a joy to watch
for the spectators - something the young Kenyan team has executed well
on their way to the top of the world stage this season.
After reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Dubai and the Hong
Kong sevens, the Kenyans moved a notch higher by qualifying for their
first ever Cup final in the Adelaide Sevens in Australia, where they
lost to reigning champions South Africa.
They have won the admiration of their fanatical supporters both at
home and abroad - a feat only matched by the athletes or to a lesser
extent by the national cricket side.
“Rugby is still regarded as elitist. But I think that this is the
right time to ... sell Kenya through the sevens and reward the guys.
They need to be superstars,” said James Kabuthi a fan.
NAIROBI, Thursday, AFP
|
