Ouma confident of guiding Starlets to the Olympics

Harambee Starlets head coach David Ouma is optimistic of leading her charges in qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Ouma who led the team in qualifying for the 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations believes that proper training and full support from the government will boost their chances of attaining this goal after failing to qualify for the 2018 AWCON tournament.

Starlets checked into the camp on Sunday to prepare for the first leg of qualifier against Malawi.

“Out of 39 players I named last week, 31 of them reported to camp on Sunday. So far we have had four training session, one in the morning and the other one in the evening for the last two days consecutively and we will continue today.”

“The players are okay, they are very promising and I hope I will come up with a good team from them,” said Ouma adding that, “the rest of the players couldn’t make it in the team due to some injuries they incurred last weekend in the Women premier League second leg fixtures good examples being Gaspo youth duo of Winnie Kanyotu and Wincate Kaari and, Elizabeth Wambui of Thika Queens. It’s my hope they heal in time and join the rest.”

Kenya is slated to face Malawi in the first leg in August 28, 2019 before tackling them again in the second leg three days later. The team got a bye in the first round and they will face either Gabon or Ghana in the third round if they defeat Malawi in both legs.

According to Ouma, they will break the camp on Friday to allow players to join their respective clubs for the WPL weekend matches as the camp is expected to be resumed next week.

The camp however misses some veterans like Israel Based Esse Mbeyu Akida, Neddy Atieno and Sweden based duo of Mary Kinuthia and Christine Nafula.

“We have our veterans who haven’t joined our camp, like Esse who is off season but committed in some stuffs, Mary Kinuthia and Nafula who are still in Sweden but they will join us later to beam up the team ahead of the crucial match.”

Ouma however recals how they missed 2018 AWCON tournament in Ghana and is focused on erasing the memories by taking the team to Japan come 2020.

“It was indeed sad on how we did not take part in the last AWCON edition in Accra. I think everyone understands what happened after FIFA reinstated Equatorial Guinea after a successful appeal. This time round we want to be in Olympics and I believe we shall achieve it.”

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olympics Malawi Harambee Starlets David Ouma

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