Some members of the Kenyan team in the 24th Summer Deaflympics Games in Brazil. [File, Standard]
Teresa Wambui Kamau was a talented footballer who had lofty dreams of making it big in the beautiful game.
She dreamt of crisscrossing the skies, traveling home and abroad to play football for the national team and international clubs.
But this fantasy, to take a plane ride to travel and showcase her sporting skills and talents on global arena never materialised until she joined badminton.
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As she turned 24 in 2019, Wambui realised that her football objective was not picking up, it was on a rocking chair- moving very hard but going nowhere.
She called herself to a ‘boardroom’ meeting and had a very honest conversation with her inner self.
From the ‘meeting’, she concluded that she needed a sport that could eventually give her a breakthrough and an international limelight that she badly needed, and that is how she embraced the game of badminton.
“I chose badminton because it’s mostly an individual effort. So, I will have to stretch beyond my limits to succeed. I’m happy that so many opportunities have come my way with this decision, I don’t regret joining the sport,” Wambui told Standard Sports at her training base at the Nairobi Jaffrey Sports Club.
True to her words, six years later, Wambui has now linked up with the national deaf badminton squad that will be making its debut at the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics Summer Games slated for Japan on November 15-26.
“I can’t wait to board my first-ever plane, and I’m glad that it is coming through sports, which has always been my passion. I had dreamt of this moment with football, unfortunately my hopes grew dim with it,” Wambui said.
The 30-year-old Wambui proved her mettle in the national badminton trials held in Mombasa to choose the national team for the Deaflympics.
During the intense exercise, she was among the top four who floored players from other 14 counties to punch their tickets to Tokyo. Her other Tokyo bound compatriots are Titus Kiprop, Joseph Kago and Maryline Wanjiru.
“I’m happy to be part of the final four. We are training hard, as the mission in Tokyo is to return home with a medal,” optimistic Wambui said.
“Our training has been very intense. We know the competition at the Deaflympics will be tough, so we just have to keep going,” noted the Kilifi County-born Wambui.
“I’m focused on returning home with a medal because I’m inspired with the Sh3 million pledged that the government has promised to reward all gold medallists from international events,” the alumnus of Karen Technical Training Institute for the Deaf highlighted.
Though she doesn’t go to the gym, Wambui does rigorous exercises that has made her very agile, steady and outstanding in her new sport.
“I also train with my hearing friends, they gave me exposure and are the main reason why I’m so good in the game. They helped me to learn badminton very fast despite embracing the sport very late in life,” underlined Wambui, who is also a chef at the Bomas of Kenya.
The deaf national badminton team is currently under the guidance of former Kenya top seed in men’s doubles Morgan Kirimi who is taking the squad through paces at both Pumwani Social Hall and at the Nairobi Jaffrey Sports Club.
The team trains three times a week – on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In Tokyo, the Kenyan squad will compete in both the men’s and women’s singles, the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed doubles.
“We are targeting at least a medal in any of the categories. We are hopeful to do better in Japan,” Kirimi said.
Kirimi who is confident his charges will make the country proud at the 25th edition of the quadrennial Games stated: “My players are very much ready (for the Deaflympics) because they have been training for quite a while now.”
“My target as a coach is to bring fame to the country. I am hoping to get some medals. The players are very keen to bring glory to the country because just recently we were told that if you win a gold medal, you will get Sh3 million, so every player is keen to get more packages on that,” the BWF-accredited international coach, who is currently pursuing a certificate course in Sports Coaching at the University of Nairobi, added.