Men’s rugby sevens team will get Kenya’s Olympic Games 2024 underway in Paris on Wednesday evening against Argentina in Group B, starting at 5pm.
Shujaa will then face Australia at 8pm, before concluding their group fixtures on Thursday against Samoa.
All matches will be televised live on KBC Channel 1.
Rugby sevens men groups Group A
Ireland
South Africa
Japan
New Zealand
Group B
Kenya
Argentina
Samoa
Australia
Group C
Fiji
Uruguay
USA
France
Shujaa booked their ticket to this year’s games after winning the African title last year in Zimbabwe,and will be appearing for a third time in Paris.
Kenya finished 11th in 2016 in the Rio Olympic Games, losing all matches, before improving in the Tokyo 2020 edition, which was held in 2021, where they finished 9th.
Kenya earned a spot in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris after winning the 2023 Africa Men’s Sevens Championship in September 2023 in Harare, Zimbabwe.
This will be their third Olympic appearance. They finished 11th at the Rio 2016, after losing all their pool matches and failing to progress to the knockout phase.
Kenya finished ninth at Tokyo 2020, again after losing all their pool matches and failing to progress to the knockout phase.
After finishing 13th in the 2022/23 World Rugby Sevens Series, they were relegated to the Challenger Series for 2023/24, where they finished second behind Uruguay.
The team has a blend of few experienced and youngsters under the tutelage of Kevin Wambua, who is assisted by former players.
Just two of the current squad’s 12 players, Herman Humwa and striker Vincent Onyala, have actually participated in a major championship; the other 10 are making their debuts.
Other players include forwards John Okeyo, George Angenyo Ooro and Kevin Wekesa.
Back players include Lamec Ambetsa, Brian Tanga, Samuel Asati, Nygel Amaitsa, Patric Odongo, Anthony Mboya and Chrisant Ojwang.
Shujaa will open their group B campaign at the Stade De France against Argentina on Wednesday 24th July at 5pm EAT, before squaring it out against Australia at 8pm and concluding their group fixtures against Samoa on Thursday at 3pm.
Defending champions Australia will get their campaign underway when they face Samoa From 4:30pm in group B.
Host France will tackle the United States in group C at 5:30pm, before Uruguay battles Fiji at 6pm in same group.
The Springboks of South Africa will open group A fixture against Ireland at 5pm on Wednesday, while Japan and New Zealand will face off in another group A encounter from 7pm.
Preparations for the Paris Olympics stepped up a gear on Saturday as security teams scoured the banks of the Seine ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony and top International Olympic Committee officials met in the French capital.
In preparation for the celebration, which will see between 6,000 and 7,000 competitors sail in front of 300,000 spectators on roughly a hundred barges and river boats, police with sniffer dogs inspected the six-kilometer (four-mile) course down the Seine.
The French police will get support from their counterparts in Spain, the United Kingdom, and Qatar.
A ceremony practice was held on the river early on Saturday, but the public and media were kept out of sight by police and security barriers.
Since this is the first time a Summer Games opening ceremony would take place outside of a stadium, the stakes are very high for the aquatic parade.
Residents of central Paris have experienced significant disruptions due to the ceremony’s preparations. To cross the Seine, one needs a pass with a unique QR code.
“Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen considerably fewer clients than normal. A large number of Parisians have left town, and there are very few tourists. In a Saint-Germain-des-Pres boutique, Behi Samadian,69, stated, “All of our local clientele has gone.”
8.7 million tickets have reportedly been sold, breaking the record set by the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Since several of the 45 sports still have tickets available, this number is expected to rise.
Enjoy the games live action free and exclusively on KBC Channel 1.
Kenya will participate in the 400-meter men’s, 400-meter men’s hurdles, and 4×400-meter mixed relay events at the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris, France.
The opening ceremony for the games is scheduled for July 26, 2024 along river Siene in Paris.
Africa’s fastest man, Ferdinand Omonyala, Zablon Ekwam, and Wiseman Were, will be the only Kenyan sprinters in Paris, while the relay team comprises Boniface Mweresa, Veronica Mutua, Kelvin Tauta, David Sanayek, Mercy Chebet, Kelvin Kipkorir, and Maureen Thomas.
Zablon Ekwam in action at Nyayo stadium
With a time of 9.77 in the 100 metres, Omanyala is the second fastest man going into the Paris Olympics.
However, in contrast to the last World Championships and the previous Olympic Games three years ago, the two-time African champion is under less pressure to perform well on the biggest international stage, which he believes will work to his advantage.
Another talented Kenyan sprinter in Paris at the age of 26 is Zablon Ekwam.
He boasts of having a personal best time of 44.69 and was a member of the 4x400m relay team that placed fourth at the World Indoors in Glasgow, matching his performance from the 4x400m mixed relay at the Africa Senior Championships in Cameron last month. He has been in incredible form this year.
Wiseman Were training in Miramas,France
Finally, but certainly not least, Wiseman Were, an individual sprinter competing in this year’s Olympics, will be taking on the Olympic track for the first time.
The 26-year-old is the reigning national champion and also the 2024 Kip Keino classic champion in 400m hurdles.
In addition to being the current national champion, the 26-year-old won the 400-meter hurdles Kip Keino Classic in 2024.
He was part of the team that won bronze in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 4x400m relay, managed a 4th finish in the 400m hurdles in the same Birmingham championships, and finished 4th in last month’s 400m hurdles at the Africa senior championships.
He also finished 4th in this year’s All Africa games in Accra, Ghana.
Paris Olympics organisers said on Friday they were experiencing problems linked with a major worldwide computer systems outage, a week before the Games’ opening ceremony takes place.
“Paris 2024 is aware of global technical issues affecting Microsoft software. These issues are impacting Paris 2024’s IT operations,” organisers said.
“Paris 2024’s technical teams have been fully mobilised to mitigate the impacts of these issues and we have activated contingency plans in order to continue operations,” they added.
A source at the Paris Olympic Games organising committee said the problem is affecting the accreditation system with some people unable to pick up badges before next Friday’s ceremony on the River Seine.
The source added it could also affect arrival of athletes who have had flights cancelled, after the athletes’ Olympic village welcomed its first guests on Thursday.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE), airports in Spain, the Netherlands and Hong Kong as well as production at US carmaker Tesla’s plant outside Berlin have also been disrupted.
Microsoft said in a statement it was taking “mitigation actions” in response to service issues.
It was not clear if those were linked to the global outages.
Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has secured exclusive Free to Air Rights (FTA) for the 33rd Olympic Games, scheduled for 26th July to 11th August this year in Paris France.
During the games, Kenyans will enjoy nine hours of the selected events daily on TV and live broadcast across all the FM stations.
Kenya will be sending athletes in six disciplines, including rugby 7’s men, women volleyball, fencing, judo, swimming and athletics.
The games will get underway on 24th of this month, with football and rugby sevens men group matches, before the opening ceremony set for 26th.
10,500 athletes will compete over 21 days of the Olympic Games.
329 events will be contested across 32 sports disciplines, including four newcomers: surfing, sport climbing, breaking, and skateboarding.
The four disciplines are new, although some of them have taken part in previous editions as exhibition sports.
KBC will televise both the opening and closing ceremonies as well as all the disciplines.
Each athletics gold medalists at the 33rd Olympic Games in Paris,France is set to get a reward of ksh 6.5 million (50,000)USD.
This was announced today by World Athletics which has set aside a total prize kitty of ksh 312.3 million equivalent to USD 2.4 million, to be distributed among all gold medalists across the 48 athletics events starting with this summer games.
Similar amount will be rewarded to relay teams which will win gold medals.
It will be the 1st time that a gold medalist in athletics at the quadrennial games will get prize money.
