Kenya Beach Federation chairman Ben Juma has praised the national women’s volleyball team after qualifying for the FIVB Word Championship set for between July 28 and August 5 in Viena, Austria.
The Kenya Pipeline duo of Gaudencia Makokha and Naomi Too qualified for the world event after finishing third at the African Nation Cup-cum-World Championships qualifier in Maputo, Mozambique over the weekend.
However, it was not as rossy for the men’s team of Ibrahim Odour and Jimmy Mwaniki as they failed to book a ticket to Vienna after finishing seventh.
“The national teams(men and women) had few days to train prior to the event and as a federation we want to applaud them for the efforts and more so the women’s pair of Makokha and Too for qualifying for the world event,” said Juma who double up as the Kenya Volleyball Federation secretary general.
He added: “For now, we call upon people of goodwill and wellwishers to come on board and help us give the team the much needed support to ensure they have adequate preparations and training ahead of the world championships. They have shown that they can perform well and as a federation we want to accord them a friendly environment.”
They beat Benin 2-0 (21-12, 21-5), Sierra Leone (21-12, 21-17), succumbed to hosts 0-2 (18-21, 11-21) and defeated Mauritius 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) to set up a semi-final clash against Morocco who had topped Pool ‘B’.
Kenya lost to Morocco 2-0 but made amends to beat Mozambique 2-0 in the third place play-off to bag not only the bronze medal, but also a ticket to Vienna. Morocco, South Africa, Mozambique and Sierra Leone booked the four championship slots in the men’s division.