TOKYO, Japan, Jul 29 – Lioness star Sinaida Aura says Kenyans are ready to vent their spleen on Great Britain in their last Pool A match of the Tokyo Olympics Women’s Rugby 7s event.
The last pool match for the Felix Oloo girls is a must-win but Sinaida underscored their insatiable hunger for success in an interview with Capital FM Sport.
“As a team we are looking to bounce back hungrier tomorrow and we hope that we are going to get the win because it is what we want. The loss to Russia is not what we had expected,” Aura said.
“Of course, this was a bit of a low because we expected to beat them. It’s a bit disappointing. However, we are just going back to the drawing board and see what we need to tweak and come back stronger and better tomorrow.”
Aura says they will look to work more in threes, get a lot more support, play more in defence and attack.
Meanwhile, Aura has described her presence in the Japanese Capital as “a once in a lifetime” opportunity.
“It’s an overwhelming emotion. You are excited to be here but then again, a bit nervous because you want to bring your all; so, it’s a mixture of emotions. However, I’m very grateful, humbled and privileged to be here. It’s such a great feeling.”
The superstar had come out of retirement to achieve her dream of playing in the Olympics.
-‘Shebesh’ urges girls to want it more-
Meanwhile, the magnificent Janet Akello has called on her charges to up their game in their last match against the Great Britain.
Shebesh as she is fondly referred to by her team-mates because of her toughness believes that they gave it too easily to Russia.
“The game was hard, we give it our all, but the one who wanted it more took it, that’s is how it is in the game of 7s if you lose concentration, then you give the opponent advantage because time is very minimal,” she said.
She added, “In the game against New Zealand, we did not lose by big margin but against Russia we lost by big margin, from tomorrow we need to up our game.”
Just like the rest of the players, ‘Shebesh’ feels that the quarantine of the eight members of the team affected the team’s preparations and synergy.
“The quarantine for the rest of our girls has affected us because this is team sport we must depend on one another, if one is not well then there is a problem.”
Commenting on the performance against Russia, she said, “We tensed, we did not take on the tackles, we were giving them a lot of chances to attack us, if we took the tackles, they could not have done what they did because they had already panicked, we feared them and they took the opportunity.”
On the advice of the young players in the team, she said, “for the young players I will tell, them to work hard and be disciplined because to reach this level is not a joke, as you have seen teams here are not sleeping, they working hard every day. Yes, we lacked friendly matches but that should not be an excuse, we should do more and want to win more and stop complaining, just a little bit hard work and we will be there.”
-Alex Isaboke is reporting from Tokyo, Japan-
