S. OchiengTennis ace Angella Okutoyi headlines Kenyan team set for 2023 Billie Jean King Cup
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Reading Time: 3min | Tue. 06.06.23. | 17:00
12 countries will be vying to get the single ticket available to Euro/Africa Group II with the last team being relegated.
2022 Wimbledon Girls’ Doubles champion Angella Okutoyi will lead Kenya’s quest of putting up an impressive show on home soil when the country hosts the prestigious 2023 Billie Jean King Cup that will be staged at the Nairobi Club from 12-17 June.
In the tournament where 12 nations will be competing in the Africa Group III category, the 19-year-old teenager, who is currently based in USA with Auburn University, will line up alongside twin sister Roselida Asumwa and Alicia Owegi with the duo also currently in the United States with Cowley College in Kansas and Alabama University respectively.
Completing the trio will be local based star Cynthia Wanjala.
Tennis ace Angella Okutoyi headlines the Kenyan team for the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup that will be played at the Nairobi Club from 12-17 June.
— Ochieng' Stephen (@soo_ochieng) June 6, 2023
Okutoyi alongside her twin sister Roselida Asumwa, Alicia Owegi and Cynthia Wanjala will form main team.#BillieJeanKingCup pic.twitter.com/7G1sAwLQBp
The four players come into the tournament off some experience as they are the same quartet selected for the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup (Europe/Africa) held in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Asumwa, Wanjala and Owegi finished eleventh out of 14 countries after losing 2-0 to Botswana in the positional play off as Okutoyi missed out on the tournament as the dates of the competition clashed with her historic run to the Wimbledon title in London.
In the team that will be headed by coach Francis Rogoi, Stacy Yego and Zimbabwe based Melissa Mwakha will join the Kenyan team as reserve players.
It's a first. @BJKCup Africa. @tennis_kenya Igniting a revolution in women’s tennis across Africa, to empower, to celebrate, to support, to participa & inspire a generation of girls. Thank you @BillieJeanKing @katadams68 @ITFTennis @moyasa_ke @OlympicsKe @Okutoyiangella2 pic.twitter.com/wq97tleEi3
— Wanjii (@wanjiii) June 1, 2023
“Team preparations are going on well. Tennis Kenya brought in the players who are based in the US two weeks ago. They have been training daily under the watchful eye of their Captain, Francis Rogoi. They are currently in residential training at Nairobi club.
Today we are not just here to name the final team, but we are here to celebrate your hard work, your talent, dedication and passion to tennis. We have watched you grow since you were tiny tots and I for one am very proud of you.
I thank God for each and every one of you. May God continue to bless you in your relentless pursuit of excellence and your unwavering commitment to the sport that you love,” Tennis Kenya Secretary General Wanjiru Mbugua remarked.
All set for the Billie Jean King Cup Group III tournament set for Nairobi from 12-17 June.
— Ochieng' Stephen (@soo_ochieng) May 31, 2023
12 countries will be vying to get the single ticket available to Euro/Africa Group II.
The last team will be relegated.#BillieJeanKingCup pic.twitter.com/OyPb6n9tq2
Kenya made their Billie Jean King Cup debut in 1991 and played on and off until 2005. They returned to the competition in 2012.
To date, Kenya have recorded three wins in the tournament – against Cyprus in 1995 and 2005 and against Iceland in 2017.
The tournament this year will feature twelve nations including Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Seychelles, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.
The Billie Jean King Cup, referred to as the World Cup of Tennis, is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
The name was changed to the Fed Cup in 1995 and changed again in September 2020 in honor of former World No. 1 Billie Jean King.
It is the world's largest annual women's international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
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