All set for inaugural Impala Womens Sevens tourney

The Impala Women’s Sevens tournament kicks off on Friday with organizers keen to help nurture young girls into top professionals.

The inaugural tournament will be held at the Impala Club from 9:30am (+3GMT) and will conclude the same day.

The Impala Ladies team Head Coach Maria Otieno has confirmed that this tournament has ignited local interest with more than 10 teams and a total of more than 120 girls are expected to take part in the competition.

Some of the teams invited for the tournament include Impala, Comras, Nakuru, USIU, BlakBlad, Shamas, Homeboyz, Mwamba, Northern Suburbs and Bungoma.

An Under-17 exhibition match for the girls will curtain raise the tournament at the Impala Club Grounds.

Otieno said she was delighted by the initiative that is set to act as a conveyor belt for Kenya’s next generation of Lionesses’ talent.

“Some Kenya Lionesses are approaching their twilight years and there is need to recruit and sharpen fresh blood to take up after them.

“I expect to see a large number of young ladies in active competition and this presents a very good opportunity for talent scouts to identify talent which can later on be nurtured for global competition,” Maria added.

In addition to the exciting rugby, Impala will use this chance to teach the ladies on the need for social responsibility.

“It is only through peer to peer idea exchange that ladies can improve each other. This tournament provides the best ambience for life skills teaching,”Maria added to her sentiments.

The pooling of the participating teams will be released in due course.

Pool A: Homeboyz, Mwamba,Shamas, USIU

Pool B: Impala, Nakuru, Comras, Blad Babes

-Report by Edwin Mbare