Shujaa withdraw from Dubai tourney after government failure to buy travel tickets
30th November 2023
The women's side Kenya Lionesses were also caught up in the same tragedy.
- Shujaa were handed an invite to the International Invitation Category at the Dubai 7s.
- The tournament is scheduled to take place from December 1-3 in Dubai, UAE.
- The team however failed to travel due to lack of tickets.
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 what SportPesa News understands as government failure to purchase their
travel tickets.
SportPesa 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.
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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.
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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.
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winner
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.