Five Taekwondo players will lead Kenyans in hunting for the first medals on Saturday July 19th at International University Federation (FISU), the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr in Germany.

Welterweight Zenna Selina will lead Annah Jumwa Mwandawiro (bantamweight), Erick Gitonga Munene (heavyweight), Stacy Alice (featherweight) and Haji Okwato Ombago (finweight) will be making their debut at the games with hope of coming home victorious.

The taekwondo captain Selina, who is also the East Africa University Games welterweight champion was full of hope that once they step in Düsseldorf, they will be battling out for the title to what she won in December at the regional games.

Coming from United States International University (USIU), Selina promised that her training under Coach Peter Miringu will bear fruits.

“We have been training for a while and we believe in our mentors and training since majority of us have won in some events despite the fact that they are competing at the world stage for the first, they understand the game so well.

“World games are on a higher level unlike in other events,” said the red belter who won the cadre a two months ago. She said that they will be fighting for glory, not carrying the losing spirit but winning spirit.

“Now that we are going for world games, we are all winners and I have seen my colleagues battle for honours,” she said.

All the five fighters were gold medalists during the East Africa Games. Jumwa from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST), Munene comes from Kenya Methodist University (KeMU), Alice represents Kenyatta University while Haji comes from (USIU).

Coach Miringu, a black belter said that despite the team having shot time in camp, training for the games, they are very ready to challenge the world.

“We are so prepared for this event. We have been training in a camp and the team has the winning mentality. We are lucky to have a heavyweight which is very rare in universities,” said Miringu.

He added that the team was seeded during the East Africa Games in December, selecting a big contingent but some students lacked traveling documents, hence missing out on the trip.

“We had a bit of challenge due to short time in camps. World games is highly completive that needs better preparations but since we have had a few days, we are ready for it. At the same time, in order to promote the sport, we need universities to support students for international games to gain experience and exposure,” he said.

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