Lessons for Wafalme as Tunisia, Cameroon book World Championship tickets

Coach Gideon Tarus has nothing but praise for his charges, national men’s volleyball team, Wafalme Stars, who managed a ninth-place finish as curtains came down on the 16-team CAVB men’s African Nations Championship won by Tunisia.

In the gold medal match, Tunisia beat Cameroon 3-1 (16-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-16) to win their 11th title, the third in a row. The two finalists qualified for the FIVB World Championship set for Russia, next year. 

In the match for the bronze medal, Egypt defeated Morocco 3-1 for their third bronze medal in the competition. The two teams were in group D alongside Wafalme. Uganda, led by Daudi Okello, finished in 5th place, which is their best result ever and the best East African ranked team in the championship. 

“I commend the players and the technical bench for the good job they did. Being our first outing in two years and going up against experienced sides in the group stage, the players did well. We had five debutants in the national team, more than two-thirds of the team was also debuting on this level of competition, having only played at the Zone Five level and they all showed composure and grit,” said Tarus. 

He continued, “We have picked our lessons and have also proved that anything is possible for this team especially with the win against Egypt and managing to pick a set from the bronze medalists. I believe that if this squad is kept active and given the resources to prepare well for any competition, they will be a force to reckon with continentally in as short a time as two years.”

Wafalme began their campaign with, already written off by many as they had landed the ‘group of death'. However, the Enock Mogeni-captained side did not allow the underdog tag to come between them and victory as they faced eight-time African champions Egypt in their competition-opening match beating the Pharaohs 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 15-12) for a historic win, the first-ever for Kenyan men against the side. 

Up next was Morocco and Wafalme looked set to cause another upset, picking the first set as they went on to lose the match3-1(19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21) and with it the ambition to reach the top eight, despite the walkover against Tanzania as Egypt beat Morocco for the two to advance to the knockout stage. 

From there on, the focus was to finish top in the classification matches and Tarus led his charges to achieve that target without dropping any point. 

“We have to build on this new beginning for the team. I urge the federation to make sure that the players are engaged at every available opportunity and since the FIVB and CAVB competitions may not be enough, friendly matches and other tournaments will come in handy for the men,” Tarus offered.

Most Valuable Player: Mohamed Al Hachdadi (MAR)

Best Libero: Mohamed Reda (EGY)

Best Receiver: Zouheir Elgraoui (MAR)

Best Attacker: Wassim Ben Tara (TUN)

Best Setter: Khalid Ben Slimane (TUN)

Best Blocker: Christian Voukeng Mbativou (CMR)

Best Server: YvanArthur Kody (CMR)