In a bid to conquer in the Euro/Africa Group II playoffs next year, the Kenya Davis Cup team head coach Rosemary Owino is looking to start training soon.
Kenya qualified to the group after topping in Pool 'B' of Group III qualifiers held at Nairobi Club last week and they are set to come up against relatively tougher opponents.
Owino said she will soon launch preparations for the assignment ahead. Among the countries likely to be pooled against Kenya are—Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Denmark, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia and Georgia.
Others are—Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Latvia, Morocco, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Syria, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.
The draws for the play-offs are set for October 3 at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) offices in London.
The current Kenyan team is constituted by the quartet of Ismael Changawa, Kevin Cheruiyot, Ibrahim Kibet and Albert Njogu with Sheil Kotecha, Olivier Kigotho and Petty Andanda likely to be factored in after missing last week's tournament.
Owino has tipped the four to shine in the playoffs. She believes the boys have what it takes to qualify but says it might be quite hard if they do not put in the work rate required early to avoid a last-minute rush.
“Our boys have done exceptionally well after undergoing three months of training in Spain and Morocco. I hope the government and federation will organise and get them into official training as early as now because some of the players we expect to meet are full-time players,” she said.
“We should train for at least four to six hours everyday to achieve our dream. The boys are capable of so much more and honestly if we do not train well, our chances are zero,” she added.
