Angella Okutoyi: Kenyan not giving up on Olympic tennis dream

Kenyan tennis player Angella Okutoyi says she has not given up hope of playing at the Paris Olympics, which would fulfil a “childhood dream”.

Despite winning the 2023 African Games title in Accra in March, the 20-year-old fell short of the required top-400 world ranking which she needed to reach by 10 June to secure a berth at the Olympics.

She was 503rd in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on the cut-off date, and has since climbed seven places.

Okutoyi’s team have appealed to the International Tennis Federation (ITF). They claim that, because the African Games were delayed by seven months, she did not have enough time to get the rankings points she needed to fulfil qualification criteria.

As they await the decision, Okutoyi has told the BBC what being at an Olympics would mean to her.

“That has always been my childhood dream, just to see myself in the Olympics, be an Olympian and come out with some silverware,” she told Sportshour on the BBC World Service.

“I would say the Olympics is a huge event, huger than the Grand Slams. It’s so big.”