Kenyan teams go down fighting against Egypt as Zone V tourney serves off
Kenya's Gaudencia Makokha in action against Egypt during their CAVB Zone V Beach Volleyball qualifiers at Pride Inn Paradise hotel in Mombasa on December 20, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Wanjala had exuded confidence that her new-look team would win gold in the tournament that doubles up as qualifiers for the African Games and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, yet it's eternal rivals Egypt who delivered a telling statement on Day 1.
- Adel’s experience came to the fore as Egypt displayed maturity to claim the golden set.
“We might have lost the battle but not the war!”
That was the rallying call by Kenya women’s beach volleyball team Salome Wanjala on Wednesday after they lost to Egypt via golden set in their opening match of the CAVB Zone V Paris Olympic Games qualifiers here in Mombasa.
Wanjala had exuded confidence that her new-look team would win gold in the tournament that doubles up as qualifiers for the African Games and Paris 2024 Olympic Games, yet it's eternal rivals Egypt who delivered a telling statement on Day 1.
Kenya's Gaudencia Makokha (left) and Yvonne Wavinya celebrate a point against Egypt during their CAVB Zone V Beach Volleyball qualifiers at Pride Inn Paradise hotel in Mombasa on December 20, 2023.
The pair of Gaudencia Makokha and Yvonne Wavinya had handed Kenya a dream start after beating Egypt’s Nada Hamdy and Nariman Yasser 2-1 (21-10,19-21,15-06) before Egypt A’s Doaa Elghobashy and Marwa Magdy beat Kenya B's Mercy Iminza and Sharleen Sembeli 2-0 (21-18,21-11) to force the tie-breaker.
Egypt fielded Elghobashy and Magdy, while Kenya started with Makokha and Wavinya in the decisive set.
The Egyptians emerged victorious, with the experienced Elghobashy delivering the crucial kill to complete the job at 15-13.
Wanjala rued inexperience for losing the golden set which was determined by narrow margins.
"We have only lost the battle but we are still in the race. We played the golden set under a lot of pressure hence committed a lot of mistakes especially in services. We have a training session tomorrow so we will work on some of the mistakes. We were also a bit unlucky in the golden set but we still have a chance to contest for the trophy,” said Wanjala.
It was a similar fate in the men’s category as Egypt once again beat Kenya in the golden set after Ahmed Azab and Atef Adel overcame Brian Melly and Edward Kibet 15-10.
Egypt B’s George Mourrice and Youssef Zaki had beaten Kenya A comprised of Jairus Bett and Elphas Makuto 2-0 (21-15,21-11) before Melly and Kibet stunned Egypt A’s Azab and Adel 2-1 (12-21, 21-18, 18-16) to take the game to overtime.
Adel’s experience came to the fore as Egypt displayed maturity to claim the golden set. Egypt coach Nicolangelo Antonicelli said his charges showed more hunger in the golden sets thus emerged victorious.
Kenya's Jairus Bett in action against Egypt during their CAVB Zone V Beach Volleyball qualifiers at Pride Inn Paradise hotel in Mombasa on December 20, 2023.
“There is no big difference between Kenya and Egypt as you saw in today’s matches, but we showed good fighting spirit in the golden sets and deserved to win.
“We have not had a lot of time to prepare this team but some aspects we have been working on in training really came out in today’s game like composure in pressure moments and also defence. It’s a tough championship going from what I’ve seen today and we just need to remain focused because beach volleyball is very unpredictable,” said Antonicelli.
In other matches played on Wednesday, Rwanda bagged maximum points against Burundi in the women’s category, while Burundi edged out Uganda 15-11 in the men’s category after settling for level pegging.
