Nightmare draw for Shujaa in Ksh140 million New York Sevens tournament

Kenya Sevens have been drawn in the Red Pool for the inaugural New York City Sevens taking place at the Red Bull Arena in New York City, USA on July 15.

Shujaa will take on heavyweights New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in the tournament that has a prize money of $1 million (Ksh140 million).

The Blue Pool consists of Fiji, France, Ireland and the USA. Shujaa will begin the one-day event with a match against New Zealand before facing Australia and South Africa in their subsequent fixtures.

The winners of each pool will compete in the final for the overall title while the second-placed teams will compete in the bronze medal match while third-placed sides will fight for the plate title while the bowl final comprise the fourth-placed teams in each pool.

Kenya will use the tournament as part of their build-up for the Africa Sevens which will also serve as the Olympic qualifiers in Zimbabwe in September.

Shujaa, who are still reeling from their relegation from the World Rugby Sevens Series, must win the Africa Sevens tournament to qualify directly for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The second and third placed sides will have to go through the tough Repechage, the final qualification tournament in June 2024, which involves teams from other continents, whose winner will take the final spot.

Kenya’s job in the qualifiers have been made even more difficult following the inclusion of South Africa who failed to qualify directly through the World Sevens Series after finishing seventh.

Given the results of the World Series, South Africa, who are seeking to qualify through this route for the first time, are firm favourites to clinch the automatic place with Kenya the other team favoured to win.

Uganda, Burkina Faso, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire are the other teams set to feature in the Africa Sevens tournament.