Kenya Prisons’ men’s volleyball team finished sixth after going down 3-0 (25-19,25-18,25-19) to Esperance of Tunisia in the classification matches as the curtains came down yesterday on Africa Club Championship in Tunis yesterday.
This is the second time the North Africans have won against the local champions, having beaten them 3-0 in 2013 in the group stages hosted in Sousse, Tunisia.
The only Kenyan representatives went passed group stages to set up a quarter-final match against Al Ahly of Egypt, where they lost to the North Africans 3-0.
Prison then overwhelmed FAP of Cameroon in classification matches for position 5-8 to book a date with Esperance for position 5/6
Reached for comment, Prisons coach, Gideon Chenje, said they can only get better.
“This is a remarkable improvement if you compare with our last participation where we finished 11 in 2015. We have picked valuable lessons and we hope to use it in future assignments,” said Chenje.
Kenya Volleyball Federation officials among them chairman Waithaka Kioni, vice chair Martin Makokha and secretary general Ben Juma both extended their congratulatory message to the local champions for their good efforts at the annual event.
Chaos started in the final (fifth set) when spectators of Sahel chanted political songs that made mockery of former Libyan president, Moumar Gaddafi. The action irked Swehely players, who protested by walking off the court with the scores standing at 14-7 in favour of Sahel.
Both team had bagged two sets each and the hosts were leading inn the tier breaker.
But CAVB Control Committee sitting in Tunisia headed CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani still went ahead to declare Sahel the eventual winners of the semi-final match before fining them US$3000. The aggressors were also directed to write an apology letter to Swehly team, the organising committee and CAVB following their bad behaviour.
Sahel were scheduled to play Ahly in the final yesterday, having defeated Bourj (Algeria) 3-1(25-15, 23-25, 30-28 and 25-18) in the semi-final on Sunday.
Closer home, University of Kibungo (Rwanda) saw off Alhahda (Sudan) 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-22) to finish in the 11th position in the championship that had attracted 17 teams across Africa.