Commonwealth Games Qualifiers: Kenyan beach volleyballers fight for final slots

The men and women's national beach volleyball teams are through to the Commonwealth Games qualifiers semis after seeing off Nigerian teams in the quarters played on Sunday afternoon. 

The games, ongoing in Accra, Ghana will now see the women's side face hosts Ghana in the semis this morning, while their male counterpart's have a repeat match with South Africa, a side they faced in their final group stage match losing in straight sets of 21-18 and 28-26. 

Ibrahim Oduori and James Mwaniki defeated Nigeria 2-0(21-15,21-18) in the quarter-final played at the Laboma Beach while the pair of Naomi Too and Veronica Adhiambo saw off Nigeria 2-0(21-11,21-09) in the last eight. 

Other semi-final pits Rwanda against Mauritius in the women’s category while Ghana will play top ranked Gambia in the other men's semi. 

"We have endured some tough tests and kept the fight to the last whistle of each match and I am happy we are in the semis. We only have two more hurdles to go past to achieve our goal and we remain focused. 

Facing the hosts will be tough. They are a good side but we are determined to go all the way.We are partnering well with Adhiambo and we are hopeful of a better ending," Too offered.

On his part, Oduor believes that they have their chance for a revenge against South African after losing to the side in the group stage.

"Our strategy in the group match was working. We led at 17-15 and were well on our way to taking the first set but we slightly lost concentration and allowed them to win. The second set was equally close and they just got lucky to win 28-26.

We will stick to the same game plan, with slight adjustments and stay in the game until the last whistle. We are handling Mwaniki's injury just fine and I do not think it will affect our game much," Oduor said.