Kenya Lionesses will turn their attention to the Elgon Cup after finishing third in the Africa Cup in Madagascar last weekend.
Assistant coach Paul Murunga said preparations will start in the next few weeks.
“We only have the Elgon Cup against Uganda in June or July. The girls learnt valuable lessons at the Africa Cup, which I believe will be put to good use against Uganda,” said Murunga.
Kenya beat Uganda 87-3 last year and will be favourites, again.
The Lionesses' hopes of a place at next year’s World Cup went up in smoke after a 29-22 defeat to Madagascar and 63-5 to champions South Africa at the Africa Cup.
However, they bagged the bronze medal after beating Cameroon 39-17.
Murunga believes their defeat to hosts Madagascar — which he termed ‘controversial’— hurt their chances of playing at the grandest stage in England.
“There were questionable calls in our match against Madagascar, especially in the final minutes. It also happened in the Cameroon versus Madagascar match, where the home team seemed to get favourable calls from the referees,” said Murunga.
Meanwhile, the Quins coach said there’s confusion regarding Kenya’s participation in the WXV 3 tournament slated for later year with reports indicating Madagascar could take the Lionesses' slot after finishing second at the Africa Cup.
Kenya secured their WXV 3 status in Dubai after a 21-5 win over Colombia last year but Murunga is unsure if the Lionesses will play again in Dubai in September.
“Once we finished the tournament in Madagascar, we knew we would go to WXV in Dubai in September. But once we went to the hotel, we were told Madagascar had taken our place. We don’t know our fate,” he said.
The former Kenya Sevens and under-20 coach has asked the union for better preparations if the Lionesses are to match South Africa.
“We have a good group of girls but they need more games against good quality, opposition, remuneration, training camps for us to compete against the best,” he observed.
