Kenyan table tennis team upbeat ahead of Olympic qualifiers

International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) East African champion Brian Mutua will be leading Kenyan team to Olympic qualifiers in Tunis, Tunisia. Also in the team that jets out of the country on February 22, 2020 for the continental event are Josiah Wandera, Doreen Juma and Lydia Setey.

CONTINENTAL QUALIFIERS

The team that has been training at the Mathare Youth Sports Association in Komarock, Nairobi, over the past few weeks was kitted by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya.  

Kenya, which is ranked 12th in Africa, will be participating in the continental qualifiers in Tunis, Tunisia between February 27 and 29.

Mutua will play on February 24 and 26 for the Africa Cup after booking a ticket to the continental event with victory in the ITTF East Africa region Championship held in Kampala, Uganda in November last year.   

National team coach Kennedy Otieno Kojal is confident his charges will play well and book Olympic tickets.

“We will try our level best to keep up with the continent’s top players in pursuit of qualification slots. It's a tough assignment but let's see how it goes in Tunis," said Kojal.

IMPROVED

He added that Mutua's training in Denmark has greatly improved his skills.

African players who stand in Mutua's way are the All Africa Games Champion Omotayo Olajide of Nigeria, ITTF Africa winner Omar Assar of Egypt, Rio Olympics quarter finalists Aruna Quadri of Nigeria and Africa bronze medallist Egypt's Ahmed Saleh, also of Egypt.

The Olympics qualifiers will take at the Dome of El-Menzah, Centre in Tunis.

The event will feature men and women’s singles and mixed doubles. The men's and women's singles shall be played in a round robin format. Matches in all stages for at the event will be best of seven games.

The top four players in single events will be directly qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The same will apply for the mixed doubles.

The team's head of delegation is Andrew Mudibo, while team manager in Samson Ateka.