East Africa region champion Brian Mutua will lead Kenya in the forthcoming Africa Olympic qualifiers in Tunis, Tunisia.
Mutua who trained on an Olympic Solidarity scholarship in Denmark is in the team that consists his Nairobi City stablemate Josiah Wandera.
Others in the team will be women players Doreen Juma and Lydia Setey who will be hoping to make their presence felt at the continental level.
The team which has been training at the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA), Komarock over the past few weeks was kitted by the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) well in time for their trip on Saturday, February 22nd.
Kenya which is ranked 12th in Africa will be participating in the continental qualifiers to be be staged in Tunis, Tunisia from February 27th-29th.
Mutua will however take to the stage on February 24th-26th for the Africa Cup after booking a ticket to the prestigious continental showpiece with victory in the ITTF East Africa region Championship held in Kampala, Uganda from November 28-29, 2019.
National Team Coach Kennedy Otieno Kojal aka Lotti is content with ytea preparations thus far. He is optimistic that the team players will give their all in pursuit of elusive Olympic tickets.
“We will try our level best to keep up with the crème de la crème of the continent as we seek for qualification slots. It’s a tough assignment but let’s see how it goes in Tunis,” said Kojal.
Kojal added that Mutua’s training in Denmark has improved his skills tremendously.
“The rest of the team have also upped their game and are raring to go,” said the coach.
African players who stand in Mutua’s way are the All Africa Games Champion Nigeria’s Omotayo Olajide, ITTF Africa winner Egyptian Omar Assar, Rio Olympics quarter finalists Aruna Quadri of Nigeria and Africa bronze medalist Egypt’s Ahmed Saleh.
The Olympic qualifiers and Africa elite event will be played at the Dome of El-Menzah, Center of Capital of Tunisia:
The African quaotation event will feature Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and Mixed Doubles.
The men’s and women’s singles shall be played in a group of Round Robin System
All matches in all stages for all events will be best of 7 games.
The top 4 players in single events will be directly qualified for Tokyo OG 2020 same as the winner in mixed doubles.
KENYA TT TEAM
Head of Delegation: Andrew Mudibo
Team Manager: Samson Ateka
Coach: Kennedy Otieno Kojal “Lotti”
Women
Doreen Juma
Lydia Setey
Men
Brian Mutua
Josiah Wandera