Mulinge outlines beach volleyball teams’ preps ahead of continental championship

Fresh from guiding his charges, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) men to a fifth place finish in their Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) men’s Africa Club Championship debut, coach Sammy Mulinge now shifts his focus to national team coaching duties as he is expected to guide the women’s beach volleyball team in their quest for an Olympics slot.

Kenya’s beach volleyball teams are expected to hit camp soon ahead of the Continental Cup, the second and final round of the Olympics qualification process, set for June 21 to 27 with the CAVB yet to confirm the venue for the repeat qualifier.

 Kenyan teams had forfeited their chances for the Tokyo Games after failing to honor the second round qualifier matches in Banjul, Gambia (men) and Abuja, Nigeria (women) due to Covid-19 related travel restrictions that had been imposed across the board by the government.

The women's beach volleyball team had their repeat Olympics qualifier approved by the world governing body, International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) in January but the men’s team was holding their breath hoping for a similar pronouncement which was approved in later in March.

“We have to give the players some form of competition before heading to the continental championship so we will be looking at organizing a national tour. As part of the tour we are also looking to field our teams in one of Tanzania’s national events in mid-May. The Tanzania event is likely to be attended by Uganda, Rwanda and Mozambique and that will be a good ground for our players to gauge themselves.”

“Our biggest challenge is that the national league might not conclude in June as we had anticipated and there will have to be a balance for the players between club and national duty. We will, however, continue using the same squad that has been doing duty,” Mulinge expressed.

The team missed experienced Naomi Too in the first round qualifiers and Mulinge maintains that her inclusion in the squad entirely lies on the advice of her doctors as he would not want to hurry her return to action and undo the work the medical team has done towards her recovery.