Kenya Lionesses coach Felix Oloo has hailed his charges despite going down to New Zealand and Russia Olympic Committee at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Lionesses play their final pool game today against Great Britain at 5:30 am.
The Kenyans, who had a disrupted buildup to the opener, battled hard against both sides but fell short and are already out of medal contention.
Said Oloo: "The girls put up an exemplary performance in both matches. Five years ago, we lost 52-0 to New Zealand and today we stretched them and scored. So the girls have put in the work and fought hard against the silver medalists and favourites."
The Lionesses held their first full training session on Tuesday after half of the squad was put into isolation following an incident in which a passenger on their flight tested positive for Covid-19.
Oloo said going forward, Lionesses have to work on sharpening the attack as well as defence, adding he was delighted with kickoff and set piece.
"We saw a lot of the ball but were not able convert possession into points and we have to improve one-on-one tackling. We conceded three soft tries against Russia in the second half which cost us the game," noted Oloo.
Oloo said he expected a competitive game against Great Britain given they were among tournament favourites.
"It will be a tough game but the girls are ready. If we can improve the weak areas, we can win the game,"noted Oloo.
In the Lionesses opening match, they fell behind to Michaels Blyde's two quick fire tries. Portia Woodman scored a third which was converted by Tyler Nathan for a 17-0 lead .
The Lionesses regrouped and scored courtesy of Christabel Lindo and Grace Odhiambo as they headed into the break trailing 17-7. On resumption, Stacey Fluher and Gayle Broughton scored a try each to end Kenyan hopes of a comeback.
In Kenya's match against Russia, Nadezhda Sozonova opened the scoring and doubled the efforts when Kristina Seredina touched down and converted for a 14-0 lead.
Oloo's charges grew in confidence, dominating possession and Janet Okello showed the Russians a clean pair of heels to touch down.
From a quickly taken penalty, Okello scored her second try to reduce the deficit to 14-12 at the breather. The Russians came out firing on all cylinders, scoring three tries to close out the match.
