L. MathekaBeach Volleyball: Wanjala banking on good preps in chase for Olympic ticket
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 30.11.23. | 11:25
The competition is set to be held in Mombasa from 20-23 December
Coach Salome Wanjala, who is set to guide the national women’s beach volleyball team in next month’s CAVB Zone V qualifiers to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, is hoping to have the squad in camp early.
Wanjala named a six-member women’s squad that is expected to hit camp, tentatively, on 5 December ahead of the competition slated for 20 to 23 December, which also serves as a qualifier to the Africa Games.
“I believe with proper preparations the team will do well in this stage and the next. We are set to hit camp next week, having given the players time to be with their respective clubs for the Eldoret league leg,” the tactician offered.
The top three countries in the zonal qualifiers will make it to next year's CAVB- African Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup whose winner will get the sole ticket to the Paris Olympics.
Wanjala has named the Kenya Pipeline duo of Naomi Too and Gaudencia Makokha who bring immense experience to the team as does Prisons Kenya pair of Yvonne Wavinya and Pamela Masaisai. The tactician has also roped in Directorate of Criminal Investigations’ (DCI) Mercy Iminza and KCB’s Sharleen Sembeli.
“We have a mix of youth and experience in the squad but I believe all the players are capable of delivering. We have a training plan that we hope will not be interrupted by the heavy rains witnessed in Mombasa in the past few weeks. Our focus is on having the best team in the competition and qualifying,” she added.
Speaking to Nation Sport, Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) president Charles Nyaberi said that they are expecting a huge turnout.
"Both the African Games and Olympic Games are high profile events thus the expected turnout. Rwanda and Egypt are some of the countries that have confirmed participation but we expect more teams to register.
With the government having assured us of their support, we have already hit the ground running and set up a Local Organising Committee (LOC). They have a team on the ground in Mombasa that is checking out some of the hotels we can use as venues because we will require at least four courts. We look forward to staging a colourful event and hopefully, our teams qualify,” Nyaberi offered.
The men's team has Elphas Makuto, Jairus Bett, Edward Kibet, Wilson Cheruiyot, Donald Mchete, and Wilfred Kimutai. Patrick Owino has been named head coach while Ibrahim Oduor is the team manager.
