Kenya rugby lovers today paid the last respect to former Shujaa head coach Benjamin Otieno Ayimba at his home in Uranga, Siaya County today.
Ayimba died on Friday 21 May 2021 following multiple complications as he was undergoing cerebral malaria treatment.
Ayimba went to Olympic Primary School and later moved to Maseno School where he started off his rugby career. He played for the Kenya Cup side Impala for seven seasons and as a captain, he led the Gazelles to win the Kenya Cup Title and Enterprise Cup. He also led the side to 7s titles before he crossed over to Nondies.
The former Kenya sevens captain to the 2001 World Cup which saw Shujaa reach the Bowl Semi-final. He was also part of the 2005 World Cup as Kenya 7s achieved a similar feat. He also played in the Commonwealth games for Shujaa. He also played for Cornish Pirates.
Ayimba later took over the Kenya 7s’ Head Coach role in 2006 and during his first stint that ran till 2011, the tactician led Shujaa to the first-ever World 7s Series final (in 2009) in Sydney. A year later he got the Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) award from the then president Mwai Kibaki for an impressive run with the Sevens team.
He returned as Kenya 7s boss in 2015 and guided the team to the first-ever World 7s Series Main Cup title beating Fiji 30-7 in the Singapore 7s in April 2016. He also led the team in the first ever 7s Olympics in 2016 which was his last job with Kenya 7s.
The tactician has served on the Homeboyz and Kenya Harlequins technical benches. In 2020 he had been appointed as the Technical Director for the Kenya Rugby League