Peter Rakuom has been appointed Davis Cup captain for the 2025 season. Rakuom takes over from George Oyoo, who guided the team last year.
Rakuom faces a tall order as Kenya targets promotion to Group Three at this year’s event in Luanda, Angola, on June 9-13. Rakuom promised to go all out in the hunt for promotion.
“The boys did a commendable job last year. Even though we were in transition, we fought hard to avoid relegation to Group Five,” said Rakuom. The team from last year will be retained.
“A good number of the players from last year will be retained. We want to leverage the experience they had and analyse the performances of our players at various international tournaments,” added Rakuom.
Training started on Sunday and will run for a month as they seek to address all their concerns.
“We have adequate time to fine-tune and look at our best possible pairings as we adapt to the clay court surface,” said Rakuom.
The players in camp include Kael Shah, second in US college spring rankings, Ishmael Changawa, Albert Njogu, Zayyan Virani, Ibrahim Yego, Raymond Oduor and Brandon Sagala.
A final squad of five will be named after the training camp. Team Kenya will face hosts Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and relegated Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Kenya had a mixed performance in Angola last year.
They beat Rwanda 3-0 but lost 2-1 to Burundi and the DRC. They edged Cameroon 2-1 in the playoff.
Meanwhile, former international Francis Rogoi has been retained as the Billie Jean King Cup captain for the women’s team.
Rogoi will have Africa Games champion Angela Okutoyi, Cynthia Cheruto, Alicia Owegi, Stacy Yego, Zimbabwe-based Melissa Mwakha, Seline Ahoya and Nancy Kawira in the provisional squad.
They are expected to assemble in a fortnight. Rogoi’s charges lost 2-1 to Nigeria in last year’s semis to miss out on promotion to Group Two. Kenya beat Tunisia (2-1), Burundi (2-1) and Mauritius (3-0) on the way to the semis.
