Wanjala confident team will be ready for Commonwealth Games qualifiers

As team Kenya begins preparations for the beach volleyball qualifiers to the 2022 Commonwealth Games set for Birmingham in July, women's head coach Salome Wanjala maintains the team will be ready 

With less than two weeks of residential camp at the New Big Tree beach resort in Mombasa before jetting out of the country, the side have to hit the ground running if they are to replicate the performance of the Olympic qualifiers.

One change made as national beach volleyball sides hit camp

The duo of Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Agala as well as Yvonne Wavinya and Phoscah Kasisi represented Kenya at the Olympics qualifiers, seeing off Nigeria in the final to book Kenya's first ever ticket in beach volleyball to the Tokyo 2020 Games. 

Then under coach Sammy Mulinge, many expect Wanjala who has the same squad in camp, with an addition of experienced Naomi Too and younster Veronica Adhiambo to pick from where her predecessor left and deliver the ticket to Birmingham. 

"We got a chance to watch the pairs in action during the third leg of the FIVB homologated beach circuit two weekends ago and are aware of the amount of work we need to do to get the team ready. 

This will be a crash programme but in the end, we will be ready. First of is working on the players' fitness level, they are not in a bad place so it will not be a time consuming task," said Wanjala. 

Hosts Ghana and Gambia have already been confirmed for the competition that is open to all Commonwealth member countries. However, the Kenyan teams will get to know their opponents when the draws are conducted in Accra. 

"Not knowing who we face is not a problem. We know we have a competition and are getting ready for whichever team we come up against. We have to fine tune our basics but more importantly our blocks need some working on then we will be ready," added Wanjala.