Mogeni tips Wafalme Stars to improve championship performance in Egypt

Preparations for this year's CAVB African Nations Championship for the national men’s volleyball team, Wafalme Stars have been taken a notch higher.

As the team continues sharpening their claws ahead of the competition set for 1 to 14 September in Egypt, skipper Enock Mogeni maintains that this year's squad has the talent needed to break into the continent’s top four.

Selection headache for Tarus as Wafalme intensity preps

The best Kenya has ever finished in the African Championship is fifth place in eight appearances and that was in 2007 when nine teams competed in South Africa. 

"Training has been good, all the players are motivated and the atmosphere in camp has been overwhelming. Everyone is gearing to go. The team tempo and progression in the last few weeks of training have been encouraging. Last year we lost only one match and we will be building on that performance in this year's competition. The target is to get to the semis then fight for a podium finish from then on," Mogeni said in an interview with Mozzart Sport. 

The skipper is one of six player who are either plying their trade overseas or have had a stint outside the country, pointing to a more experienced squad compared to the 2021 team that competed in the last edition held in Rwanda. 

In 2021, Wafalme, who were returning to the continental stage after missing the 2019 competition held in Tunisia missed out on the knock-out stages on points difference after winning one match and earning points from a walkover.

The team was pooled alongside Egypt, Morocco and Tanzania, gaining maximum points against the fellow East Africans who did not play and beating Egypt 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 15-12) in a historic victory.

Playing an already qualified Morocco in final group match, Kenya went down 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21) to miss out on the quarters when Egypt beat fellow North Africans 3-1.

The Gideon Tarus charges beat Burkina Faso and Niger 3-0 and 3-1 in the classification matches to finish in ninth place.

Tunisia, Cameroon and Egypt occupied the podium places with Morocco finishing in fourth-place.

"We are looking to win all our matches in the group stage and fight our way in the knock-out stages with a podium place in mind," the skipper added. 

The team is expected to go into residential training any time this week.