NAIROBI, Kenya, June 5 – The national men’s rugby 7s team co-captain Tony Omondi admits qualifying for the World Rugby Series has whetted their appetite for the Olympics gold in Paris.
Omondi said the Olympics title is a long time coming for Shujaa and would be the perfect icing on the cake for an excellent year thus far.
“Our season was long…we started by qualifying for the Olympics. That was our target. Every one knows we were relegated and we had to fight back. Thank God, the fight went our way and we are back in the series. Paris, here we come…we are coming for our medal,” the Mwamba RFC player said.
Omondi was part of the Shujaa team that were relegated from the series after losing 12-5 to Canada in the playoffs in London.
However, they have more than redeemed themselves by returning to next year’s series with a bang — beating Germany 33-15 in last weekend’s promotion playoffs in Madrid, Spain.
An ecstatic Omondi praised the Kenyan calvary of fans for their unrelenting support of the team, noting their cult-like following of Shujaa.
“I believe we have the best fans in the world. Wherever we go they are there…we were in Uruguay, they were there with us. We went to Germany and there they were…filling the stands,” he said.
Going into Spain, coach Kevin ‘Bling’ Wambua’s charges were second on the Challenger Series standings with 48 points — eight behind leaders Uruguay.
Their last Challenger outing in Munich yielded a fifth-place finish following a narrow exit in the quarters at the hands of the hosts.
However, a two-week residential camp in Miramas, France seems to have done the trick in rectifying the weak points of the team.
“We are very thankful to NOCK for organising our stay in Miramas. It encouraged us and helped us prepare well for the playoffs,” he said.
Shujaa are due for a dinner reception at the Weston Hotel on Wednesday evening courtesy of the Ministry of Sports.
