The Kenya Under-12 girls' tennis team have set their sights on the Africa Junior Championship in Tunisia in December after topping the Eastern Africa qualifiers in Uganda over the weekend.
The team of Seline Ahoya, Nancy Kawira and Amani Gikunda were head and shoulders above the competition, beating Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi to clinch top spot and now have set their eyes on the continental showpiece after missing out on the event last year due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Coach Veronica Osogo was bullish about the team's chances against the rest of the continent.
"I'm confident we can go all the way this time. We have a month left to sharpen ourselves and get the girls in good shape before we jet out for Tunisia,” said Osogo.
Osogo added there is room for improvement by the girls and will be working on various aspects of their game in order to be competitive at the continental level.
"There are some areas which the girls have to work on. But with time on our side, we can correct the errors and go all out to do the country proud,” noted Osogo.
The boys' team of Ayush Bhandari, Jeff Okuku and Reysan Bulsara finished third to miss out on the continental.
They beat Tanzania in the opener but lost to Burundi and Uganda. Only the top team qualified proceeded.
Coach Collins Obala said: "The boys played their hearts out and gave a good account of themselves but we have to go back to the drawing board for next year."
Elsewhere, Angela Okutoyi will be attempting to go one place better in the ITF junior tennis tournament slated for Stellenbsoch, South Africa.
The youngest Kenya Open winner in history lost in the semis last week in the opening tournament and has set her sights on winning this time around.
