The Kenya team for the Billie Jean King Cup Group III tournament will assemble mid this month to start preparations for the event slated for Namibia from August 4-11.
Tennis Kenya (TK) executive officer, Nancy Nduku, said the team led by African Games champion Angela Okutoyi, will jet into the country from June 15 and are expected to ramp up their preparations as Team Kenya eyes promotion to Group II after falling short last year on home soil in the final round.
The provisional squad includes Cynthia Cheruto, Alicia Owegi, Stacy Yego, Melissa Mwakha, Seline Ahoya and Nancy Kawira. From the training camp, the team is expected to play in build-up tournaments in July, according to Nduku.
“Once they arrive, we are looking at playing a couple of build-up tournaments to get the players in the right possible shape and be competitive in the championship, where our goal remains to gain promotion to Group II,” said Nduku.
The team will later be whittled down to the final four players, and team captain Francis Rogoi expects competition to be stiff before naming the final squad in July.
“The players have been playing in various tournaments since the beginning of the year, and we have been assessing their results and looking at combinations that can play doubles, so it will not be easy. We have a good crop of players, as well as some young players coming through, like Selina,” he added.
Twelve countries will grace the week-long tournament in the Namibian capital, and they will include hosts Namibia, Algeria, Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe The 12 teams will be pooled into three groups of four teams, with the top three in each pool advancing to the final round, where one team will progress and gain promotion to Group II for the 2026 edition.
Team Kenya came up short in the final round last year, losing to both Nigeria and South Africa. South Africa beat Nigeria in the final to earn promotion to Group II.
Rogoi said they have learned lessons from last year and were confident they would atone for last year's near miss.
