Wafalme's final 14 for Egypt assignment named

Kenya Ports Authority's (KPA) opposite hitter Peter Kamara and his Prisons Kenya counterpart Denis Esokon were the final casualties as Wafalme Stars final team was named on Saturday. 

The national men’s volleyball team is in the final stages of preparing for the CAVB African Nations Championship set for Egypt for 1 to 14 September. 

Tarus explains criteria for naming final Wafalme Stars team

Coach Gideon Tarus and his technical bench of David Lung'aho, Sammy Mulinge, Elisha Aliwa and Sammy Kirongo had trimmed the team to 16 from 20, earlier in the week as they anticipated residential training. 

Explaining his decision to drop the two Tarus, who was in charge of the 2021 squad that did duty Rwanda, finishing in ninth place, said that Esokon's inexperience and Kamara's back court defense were the main reasons the two were excluded.

"Kamara is one of the best attackers in the country right now, no doubt. However, his competitors Abiud Chirchir and skipper Enock Mogeni have that and are also good in back court defense which was something we have insisted on as a team since we started our preparations," offered the tactician.

Mogeni has been plying his trade in Japan for Oita Moyoshi while Chirchir is a French-based Grand Nancy player who has previously had professional stints in Rwanda and Tunisia. 

On Esokon, Tarus admits that the youngster has a great future in the sport hence the decision, earlier on, to retain him until the last possible minute so as to pick some lessons from the experienced players.

"Ordinarily, he would have been dropped in the initial stages but the general consensus of the bench was that he needed this experience so we can start preparing him for upcoming assignments as we think about the future," Tarus explained. 

Coach Tarus has set lofty targets for his charges, first being getting to the knock-out stages and then fighting to surpass the country's best finish in the competition, a fifth place. 

Left

1- Omollo Denis

2-Kibungei Aggrey

3-Cornelius Kiplagat

4-Joshua Kimaru

Opposite 

1-Chirchir Abiud

2-Mogeni Enock

Libero

1-Sam Juma

2-Mutero James

Centre

1-Kamonde Brian

2- Kipkorir Simon

3-Shadrack Misiko

4-Bernard Wechuli

Setter

1-Brian Melly

2-Kipkosgei Kelvin