African Games: Impeccable Okutoyi wins singles gold, storms Paris Olympics

Okutoyi, who in 2022 won the Wimbledon title for the doubles junior category, thrashed Egypt's Lamis Al-Hussein 6-2, 6-4 to win the African title.  

The 20-year old commanded proceedings against the Egyptian ranked 562nd in the WTA singles chart, from the start to the end - to break yet another ceiling in her beautiful story of the sport.

Okutoyi who is the three-time Kenya Open champion dominated the match from the start to the end. She took a 3-0 lead before it was reduced to 3-2 in fourth and fifth, but her determination and resilience saw her to go past fifth and sixth leading 4-2 before Lamis fought back to tie the match to a 4-4.

Seeded fourth at the tournament, Okutoyi had earlier edged 70th-ranked Mayar Sheriff of Egypt 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 in an epic semifinal on Wednesday.

“I’m feeling nice winning Kenyan Gold and it gives me more confidence gin forward. I took each opponent once at a time. I can’t say that the hot weather in Accra affected me much because yes it’s hot outside but if you get in the court you can’t feel the heat.

“I’m happy to qualify to Olympics and I want to perform well considering that it will be my first time to play in such a big stage. I will not put myself under any huge pressure,” a jovial Okutoyi said in a post-match interview.

She earned Kenya’s sixth  gold (24th medal overall) at the quadrennial event in Accra following gold earlier won by track stars Aron Cheminingwa (800 metres), Emily Ngii (women’s 20 Kilometres walk), Beatrice Chepkoech (women’s 3,000m steeplechase) , Mary Moraa (women’s 400m) and Jane Chepng’etich.