Shujaa ready to cause upsets in Spain, says captain Oyoo

Shujaa co-captain Nelson Oyoo is confident the team has the potential to cause an upset in the two tournaments that they have been invited to compete in Spain.

Oyoo said despite missing veteran players like Collins Injera and the likes of Oscar Ayodi he is hopeful that the blend of the young and experienced players will make them unpredictable during the tournament that will be used as part of their preparations to the Olympic Games.

A notable miss in the Shujaa team is the world rugby series second leading try scorer whose absence will also raise eyebrows ahead of the Olympics qualifiers.

“We’ve been preparing for this tournament in the last few weeks and so far the training has been intense because we have not played rugby for almost nine month. We’ve to play catch up and at least be on the same level as other teams before heading to Spain,” Oyoo told Hot 96 sports magazine show dubbed Hot 96 Arena on Saturday.

Last week, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) handed Kenya Rugby Union a sponsorship of Sh2.8 million, to go towards high performance training for Shujaa and their female counterparts Lionesses.

“The sponsorship will be a massive shot on the arm for us ahead of the Spain tourney and also the Olympics. These kind of sponsorship deals will come in handy for the team as we prepare for the summer games,” added Oyoo

The tournament that is being hosted by the Rugby federation of Spain and supported by World Rugby will feature up to 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams participating across two successive weekends starting 20/21 February.

This will be Shujaa and Innocent Simiyu’s first assignment since March last year when the Coronavirus swept away the entire sporting calendar.