Junior Doubles Wimbledon champion Angela Okutoyi hopes to fly the country's flag high in the next month's Billie Jean King Cup tournament at the Nairobi Club.
The country's youngest Kenya Open champion based in Auburn University, USA, arrived in the country on Monday to prepare for the event.
Okutoyi exuded confidence that Team Kenya can prevail in the competition despite the tough opposition. “It's good to be back home. We have a couple of weeks to prepare for the event and it's always an honour to represent my country. We promise to be competitive and do the country proud on home soil,” added Okutoyi.
Okutoyi missed last year's event as the tournament coincided with the Junior Wimbledon tournament, where she emerged victorious alongside Rose Marie Nijkamp from the Netherlands.
Okutoyi will be joined by Alicia Owegi for the week-long championship alongside sibling Rosehilda Asumwa and Cynthia Wanjala.
Team Kenya will be aiming for an improved performance after struggling in last year's competition in Skopje, North Macedonia, where Asumwa, Wanjala and Owegi finished 11th out of 14 countries.
Coach Francis Rogoi said they will take one game at a time in the tournament.
“We will approach the tournament very cautiously and we are happy that our three girls who are based in the United States have been playing competitive tennis. That will help us in our quest to win more matches,” observed Rogoi.
Kenya last hosted the Billie Jean King Cup in 1995 when it was known as Fed Cup.
Top players from Kenya, Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe will compete at this year's edition where the winner will gain promotion to Europe/Africa Group II.
Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua said preparations for the championship are on course with the eight Murram courts at the Nairobi Club being upgraded
