In 1979, Kenya emerged as champions of the men's team event at the 1979 African Badminton Championships after defeating Tanzania and Ghana.[2][3] In that same year, Kenya also competed in the men's team event at the 1979 WBF World Championships and were eliminated in the group stages. The team were also runners-up at the 1980 African Badminton Championships in Beira.
From 2008 to 2012, the team took part in qualifying for the Thomas Cup in the African Zone qualifiers but failed to advance beyond the group stages.
Kenya's were runners-up at the 1979 African Badminton Championships women's team event. In 2010, the team reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 Thomas & Uber Cups Preliminaries for Africa but lost 3–0 to Nigeria.[4]
Kenya were runners-up in the mixed team event at the 1980 African Badminton Championships. In 1982, Kenya competed in the 1982 Commonwealth Games mixed team event.[5] The team fell short and lost to all of their opponents in the Group A tie.[6] In 1998, the team competed in the 1998 African Badminton Championships and finished fourth.[7] In 2003, the team competed in the 2003 African Games team event. The team started their campaign with a 5–0 loss to hosts Nigeria. The team then lost to Seychelles by the same margin.[8]
At the Commonwealth Games of 2006, Kenya's national team participated in the mixed team competition but did not advance further from the group stage.[9] Four years later, the team made their third appearance at the Commonwealth Games mixed team event. The team finished on the bottom of their group.[10] In participating in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Kenya's national team was ranked the 18th seed for their competition. They finished last place within Pool B.[11]
At the 2019 Sudirman Cup, while Kenya was scheduled to participate, the team unexpectedly withdrew.[12] As part of an effort to improve the country's performance, Kenya sent 290 athletes to the 2019 African Games. As part of this effort, the Kenya national badminton team participated in the badminton events.[13]