The men’s national rugby 7s side, Shujaa, who were supposed to travel to Dubai to take part in the 2023 Dubai Invitational rugby tournament from 1-3 December will not honour the event as planned.
This is after the team, who recently qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics by beating a full-strength South Africa side, were handed a massive blow on Thursday after failing to travel to the Middle East country due to government’s failure to purchase their travel tickets.
Uzalendo News has learnt that everything was in place for the team to travel only for the government to leave the waiting team helpless at the last-minute despite the African champions having secured their visas.
Kenya Rugby Union chairman Alexander ‘Sasha’ Mutai issued a statement late Thursday evening confirming that Shujaa, as well as the women’s team, Kenya Lionesses, would not honour the tournament.
“We regret to inform you that the Kenya Sevens men and women national squads will not be able to honor their fixtures at the 2023 Dubai 7s. The teams were slated to play in the International Invitational Category in Dubai.”
“Unfortunately, logistical challenges have negatively impacted their travel itinerary, rendering the trip to Dubai impossible at this point in time,” the statement from the KRU chairman read.
The untimely news comes barely two weeks after Shujaa successfully retained the Safari 7s title by beating Samurai 19-0 in the 2023 edition staged at the RFUEA Grounds.
The team was also hoping to use the tournament as part of its preparations for the 2024 Challenger Series where Kenya will be aiming to finish among the top four in order to have a chance of getting promotion back to the prestigious World Rugby Sevens Series.
Shujaa were in Pool C where they had been grouped with R10C Selects, Wailers, and Speranza 22 and their campaign was expected to start at 2:40 pm Kenyan time on Friday, December 1.
O the other hand, the Kenyan women would have gauged themselves alongside the likes of the USA Falcons, French Militaire Sevens, Rhino Stompers and Ireland Invitational in Pool A.
