Angella Okutoyi: Kenya’s tennis sensation in a race against time to seal Olympics qualification

Kenya’s tennis sensation Angella Okutoyi is in a tight race to secure her dream of qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Okutoyi boosted her qualification chances with victory at her latest tournament in Tunisia where she is camping for three weeks to help her seal her place to Paris.

Victory at the weekend boosted Okutoyi’s WTA world ranking greatly as she moved up 20 places to position 502 with 109 points but she must be in the top 400 by June 10 to secure her ticket to Paris.

Angela Okutoyi aims for Olympic qualification through upcoming tennis tournaments in Tunisia, needing top performances to boost her world ranking.

The African Games champion is 47 points behind Great Britain’s Emily Appleton and Caijaisa Hennemann from Sweden, who occupy positions 399 and 400 respectively, where she needs to be to clinch an Olympics ticket.

The 20-year-old will therefore need to win, or at least reach the final, of the W35 and W50 tournaments in Tunisia to garner enough points.

It is a tough task for Okutoyi given her rivals are also closing in or looking for any slip ups to get ahead and leaves her with no margin for error in her next assignments.

Athletics prodigy Emmaculate Anyango, tennis star Angella Okutoyi and Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir have been feted for their outstanding performances in the last three months.

However, with her experience, there is great hope that Okutoyi will go against the odds again and continue making history like she has done all her career.

In April, Okutoyi beat Egyptian Lamis Abdelaziz to claim the African Games gold in for Kenya for the first time since 1978 which saw her claim one of the four reserved Olympics slots for winners of various continental games.

However, her low rankings meant she must work hard in the next two months to make it into the top 400 to actualise her historic Olympic dreams.

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