Nancy Kawira will lead five other players to the Africa Under 14 junior Championships slated for next week in Togo.
Kawira alongside Seline Ahoya, Liya Gikunda, Batheseba Ogamba, Jeff Okuku, and Ayan Quadros will fly the country's flag during the week-long championship.
Team Kenya will be up against the likes of hosts Togo, Nigeria, Egypt Rwanda, Algeria and South Africa among others.
Head coach Caroline Oduor said she is optimistic about Kenya's chances in the event. “We have had an intense training period as we look to improve our performances both in the individual and team events,” noted Oduor.
She said they have been training under the same climatic conditions they expect in Togo. “The climatic conditions in Nairobi and Togo are similar although there might be a slight difference in terms of humidity,” said Oduor
Team Kenya will play a warm-up event starting today for build-up purposes. “We just want to see where we are in terms of our preparation and correct our errors. The team is relishing the challenge and we want to win,” observed Oduor. Kawira said they are not afraid of playing some of the top juniors on the continent.
"Mentally, I think we are all prepared for the battle ahead. We are coming up against some of the top under-14 players in the continent but we are ready for them,” noted Kawira.
Kenya bagged the zonal title in Bujumbura, Burundi in January and Kawira believes their experience will come in handy in the week-long tournament.
“The tournament in Burundi helped us and we will be looking at replicating our performance on the continental stage,” observed Kawira
Elsewhere, Melissa Mwakha bagged her the ITF J30 tournament held in Maputo recently. Mwakha defeated Tamara Ermakova of Russia 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
It was a double celebration for her as she teamed up with the Russian to win the doubles category when they edged Tomatis Nurzhan of Kazakhstan and Monique Wigoda of Israel 6-2, 6-3.
