Change of guard at the helm of the Women's Beach Volleyball National team

There has been a change of guard at the helm of the women’s beach volleyball national team with experienced tactician Sammy Mulinge paving way for Prisons Nairobi head coach Salome Wanjala as the team prepares for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers.

The qualifiers are scheduled for 24 to 29 March in Accra Ghana. Three pairs in each category head to camp after this weekend’s beach volleyball circuit third leg in Mombasa as preparations begin in earnest.

 “I will be in Mombasa to watch the players in the provisional squad in action as that will give me a clear picture of where to begin. However, the basics have to take center stage on the initial stages of training then we gradually move from there.

Mombasa readying for third beach volleyball leg

This is a good team with a mix of experience and youth. We still have the Mombasa event to watch other players in action and I cannot say there will or will not be changes at the moment. Going by past performances, this is the best squad,” offered Wanjala.

The duo of Olympians Bracksides Agala and Gaudencia Makokha headline the list that also has Phosca Kasisi and her partner Yvonne Wavinya. The two pairs did duty in the African Olympics qualifiers last year with the former featuring at the Summer Games.

All Africa Games (2019) beach volleyball silver medalist Naomi Too will partner her Kenya Pipeline team mate Veronica Adhiambo. The two won the Makueni leg as Makokha and Agala placed second. Too, who previously partnered with Makokha, failed to make it to the Olympics qualifiers squad as she had just recovered from a knee injury.

In the Olympics qualifiers and Games, the side was handled by Mulinge, becoming the first coach to qualify a beach team to the Games. “I am taking over from a tactician who had huge achievements with the team and expectations are high. There is a bit of pressure but we are confident of making it to Birmingham,” Wanjala added.

 In the men’s team Ibrahim Odour and James Mwaniki headline the men’s provisional squad. Makueni beach volleyball runners-up Elphas Makuto and partner Jairus Kipkosgei, both from Kenya Prisons, make their debut, replacing the pair of Brian Melly and Enock Mogeni while the duo of Donald Mchete and Wilfred Kimutai returns to the team after missing out on Olympics qualifiers last year.