Kenya Lionesses kicked off their World 7s Challenger Series campaign with a narrow 17-15 win over China in a match played at Estadio Santa Laura on Friday.
Lionesses were from a disappointing run in the Africa Women’s 7s held in Tunisia and were keen to redeem themselves in this competition.
Lionesses first try
Kenya struck two minutes into the game when Grace Adhiambo had a break on the right side and raced to score the opening try of the game which went unconverted. China responded with an unconverted try which tied the scores at 5-5.
A quick tap off a penalty saw Kenya Lionesses’ Naomi Amuguni accelerate for a try that saw the side restore a five-point lead.
China scored two successive tries to take a 15-10 lead in the second half.
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Kenya responded when Janet Okello had a big carry on the left and released a pass to Jean Bisela who sprinted to score under the posts for a narrow 17-15 win. kenya will face South Africa on Saturday at 2:37 Am.
Uganda win
In the Men’s category, Uganda kicked off their campaign with a 26-12 win over Uruguay in a match that talisman Philip Wokorach bagged a hattrick. Ian Munyani had scored the opening try for the Ugandans.
The competition which serves as the qualification path to World 7s Series has a format that replicates the Olympic Games, which sees the 12 teams drawn in to three pools of four teams each.
The top two from each pool along with the two best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals, before the semi-finals and final will decide the winners who gain the ultimate prize of promotion to the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
World 7s Challenger Series Results: (Timings in EAT)
Women’s
Kazakhstan 22-5 Columbia
Japan 44-5 Mexico -18:07
Belgium 41-0 Papua New Guinea
Poland 36-5 Argentina
Men
Uruguay 12-26 Uganda -19:23
Germany 21-10 Lithuania-19:45
Tonga 29-5 Jamaica -20:07
Hong Kong 33-12 Zimbabwe -20:29
Women’s
China 15-17 Kenya Lionesses -21:01
South Africa vs Chile-21:23
Men
Korea vs Papua New Guinea -21:45
Chile vs Georgia-22:07
Women
Kazakhstan Mexico-22:39
Japan vs Columbia-23:01
Belgium vs Argentina-23:23
Men
Poland vs Papua New Guinea -23:45
Saturday 13 August
Uruguay vs Luthiania -00:17
Germany vs Uganda-00:39
Tonga vs Zimbabwe -01:01
Hong Kong vs Jamaica -01:23
Women
China vs Chile-02:10
South Africa vs Kenya Lionesses-02:37
Men
Korea vs Georgia- 03:04
Chile vs Papua New Guinea -03:31
Colombia vs Mexico 16:28
Japan vs Kazakhstan -16:50
Papua New Guinea vs Argentina -17:12
Kenya Lionesses vs Chile 17:34
Uganda vs Lithuania -18:04
Germany Uruguay -18:26
Jamaica vs Zimbabwe -18:48
Papua New Guinea vs Georgia-19:10
Poland vs Belgium -19:40
South Africa vs China -20:02
Hong Kong vs Tonga -20:24
Chile vs Korea -20:46
