The Kenya national men’s rugby sevens team, Shujaa, jetted back into the country after finishing ninth in the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics.

Shujaa now shifts focus to their fresh start in the World Rugby Sevens Series, where the Kenyan boys regained their core team status after a season hiatus.

They enter the competition with knowledge of the playing styles of teams like Australia and Argentina, having faced them in the Olympics.

For the third consecutive time, Kenya 7s have failed to record a win in the group stages of the Olympics.

Shujaa’s ninth-place finish in the Summer Games is an improvement over the last two editions, where they finished 11th in the 2016 Rio edition and 10th in the Tokyo edition.

However, coach Kevin Wambua is pleased with his charges’ performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite missing out on a medal.

The coach stated that his boys gave their all in the competition, which was all that mattered, given that they were placed in Pool B with highly experienced teams.

“It was quite a decent performance, and I’m very happy with the boys, three-quarters of whom are first-time Olympians. The level of competition was very high, but for us, it was all about testing our systems and seeing how we could play against the top sides.

“It was a high-profile pre-season before the proper pre-season as far as the HSBC Series is concerned, and I’m just happy with the boys because they played their hearts out. That’s what every coach needs,” said Wambua.

Shujaa lost to Argentina, Australia, and Samoa before beating Uruguay and Samoa in classification matches.

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