Charles Nyende
7 October 2009
Nairobi — Excitement is growing within the Kenyan rugby fraternity at the imminent re-inclusion of the game - the sevens version - in the Olympic Games.
The 121st session of the International Olympic Committee sitting in Copenhagen will vote on Friday whether to include rugby and golf in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
"We are very optimistic IOC will vote us in. There has been a lot of support for rugby worldwide. It is a game for both the big and small nations. Fiji, Samoa and Kenya have demonstrated this. It will be wonderful when such nations get an opportunity to compete at the ultimate stage," said Kenya Rugby Football Union chairman Richard Omwela.
"Kenya has been enjoying good form at the sevens internationally. We made it to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup and can be a medal prospect in team sports," KRFU development manager Fred Ollows said. Ollows added that the spectator appeal of the game and its popularity made its inclusion long overdue.
"Sevens rugby has spread in Kenyan schools like bushfire. Inclusion of the game in the Olympics will open access to IOC funding for education and training," he said. Kenya sevens captain Humphrey Kayange, who is in Copenhagen helping in the rugby bid, said its inclusion would help accelerate the growth of the game worldwide.
"Personally, I would find it very exciting to get the opportunity to go for a medal and be able to inspire a new generation of rugby players," Kayange said in an email sent from the Danish capital. Rugby and golf beat a field of five other sports when they were recommended for admission by the IOC executive Committee in August. The board rejected the bids of baseball, softball, squash, karate and roller sports.
Rugby was played in four Olympics between 1900 and 1924 but in the conventional 15-a-side format. The US are the defending champions. IRB proposes a sevens tournament played over four days, with 12 teams each for men and women. Rugby fans in Kenya cannot wait for a favourable verdict. "It is fast, explosive and a crowd puller. Sevens it is, all the way," Watson Karuma said.
"We love the noise and energy of sevens rugby, so apt at a venue like Rio. Rio will be the ultimate home for rugby," Rachel Musyoka said. Signs look good for rugby going by the voting done when the sport was recommended by the 15-member IOC executive in August.
Voting was done by secret ballot over several rounds, with the sport receiving the fewest votes getting eliminated at each stage. Rugby was the clear winner overall, managing seven votes in the first round and a majority of nine in the second. In a separate ensuing vote, golf needed four rounds to get through.
"They bring the spectacular side of sport, with a lot of scoring, reversals and turnovers," IOC president Jacque Rogge said then of sevens rugby.
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