Kenyan players take lessons from roller coaster ride at Nairobi Club

Team Kenya players reckon their unsuccessful campaign at Billie Jean King Cup Africa Group III tournament has come with lessons for the young squad.

Nigeria halted Kenya’s winning streak at the tournament when the hosts lost 2-1 to the west African nation at Nairobi Club on Friday.

The partnership of Angella Okutoyi and Cynthia Wanjala Cheruto, which starred in 2-1 win against Morocco on the first day of the 12-nation tournament, fell 6-1, 6-2 at the hands of Nigeria.

Kenya needed to win the doubles match to qualify for the final after Nigeria had leveled  matters 1-1 via Quadre Barakat, but lacked confidence, losing in straight sets to drop from first place in Pool “A” to second behind Morocco who beat Botswana 3-0.

Okutoyi won

Wimbledon Junior Doubles champion Okutoyi started the day brightly for Kenya, winning her fifth straight singles match by defeating Nigeria’s Adesuwa Osabuhohien 6-2, 6-0.

Her powerful serves caused Osabuhohien problems, much to the delight of Kenyan fans, among them Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba.

Hosts Kenya, who will now fight for third place against Zimbabwe who finished second in Pool “B”  yesterday, looked out of sorts in the second singles match, with Wanjala losing to hard-hitting Barakat 6-0, 6-2.

Okutoyi and Wanjala teamed up in the doubles category but again things did not just work for the duo as Barakat and Divine Nweke dominated in serves and returns. The Kenyan pair was also let down by serves after double-faulting countless times.

Morocco on top

Morocco’s 3-0 win against Botswana placed the north Africans on top of their pool for the first time in the tournament after winning 13 matches and losing two. They will face Tunisia in the final. Tunisia won all her 15 matches.

Hosts Kenya, who won 12 matches and lost three, will meet Zimbabwe, who registered 11 wins and four losses, in the third place play-off.

In other ranking matches lined up on the newly-refurbished Nairobi Club clay courts today,  fans will be treated to a West African affair between Nigeria and Ghana in the play-off for fifth place, while Botswana and Mauritius fight it out in the play-off for seventh place.  Namibia will play Burundi in ninth place play-off match.

Uganda and Seychelles, who lost all their matches in Pool “A” and “B” respectively, will face off in a relegation play-off.

The winner of the match between Morocco and Tunisia will gain promotion to Europe/Africa Group II next year, while the loser of the match between Uganda and Seychelles will drop to Africa Group IV category next year.

After yesterday’s match, Kenyan captain Francis Rogoi observed that the hosts started the day well with Angella’s win in the first singles match before Wanjala fell to Barakat.

“Barakat got all the chances of hitting the ball hard and succeeded in standing out. In the doubles matches, we started sluggishly and our opponents cashed in on that to win. In the second set, we lost a point to Nigeria because our fans celebrated the point before play finished. But that’s not an excuse for the final result of the match,” said Rogoi.

He noted that Kenya had performed better than in many previous tournaments.

“We were very close to finishing top of our Pool, but the doubles changed things.”

Rogoi also noted that the tournament had shown that there is a huge gap between Okutoyi and her compatriots which needed to be bridged.

“She has had to do a lot of work to carry the whole team. We would like to see the gap reduce so that we don’t look like we are winning by fluke. Unfortunately, we have yet to work on a development structure. It is not by chance that one of the players is way much ahead of others. This player has benefited from a very good structure for the last nine years. Because of that, this is what we got.

“Moving forward, we must develop structures to win such tournaments. For example, we need a training centre where we can keep the players, playing and schooling at the same time. That is the future of tennis. Unfortunately we have an education system where players leave school at 6pm. We can achieve a lot if we all work together - local schools, clubs, and the government.”