Mulinge predicts bright future for beach volleyball
Frome left: Kenya beach volleyball team Prackcides Agala, Gaudencia Makokha, coach Sammy Mulinge, Yvonne Wavinya and Phosicah Kasisi pose for a picture after qualifying for the final round of the FIVB Continental Cup cum Olympic qualifiers in Agadir, Morocco on June 23, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Mulinge said the qualification of his team to the two major events was through hard work and strategic planning
- Mulinge was speaking after his team qualified for the FIVB World Championships scheduled for June 10 to 19 this year in Rome, Italy
- Africa will be represented at the World Championships by the top four ranked teams namely Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and Mozambique
The World Championships and Commonwealth Games planned for this year in Europe will expose the national women’s beach volleyball team to a high level of competition, head coach Sammy Mulinge said Friday.
Mulinge said the qualification of his team to the two major events was through hard work and strategic planning.
Mulinge was speaking after his team qualified for the FIVB World Championships scheduled for June 10 to 19 this year in Rome, Italy.
It was double blessings for the team after it had also qualified for Commonwealth Games slated from July 28 to August 8 this year in Birmingham, England with both qualification coming through FIVB rankings.
“When we started our qualifying journey to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2019, we came up with a strategic plan,” Mulinge said. “Our medium term goal was to be ranked first in Africa after three years.”
Mulinge explained that it was their plan to at least reach the final of the Olympics qualifiers but went on to qualify for the Tokyo Summer Games.
“We also wanted to take our players to World Championships and the World Tour. We are happy we will be representing Africa at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships,” said Mulinge, adding that they want to create a good base for the national team by exposing at least three pairs in each gender, senior, youth and junior categories.
According to a letter from Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) dated April 21, Africa will be represented at the World Championships by the top four ranked teams namely Kenya, Morocco, Egypt and Mozambique.
CAVB considered the latest FIVB rankings in making the decision since they could not organise a qualification tournament due to limited time.
This will be the second time Kenya will be participating at the World Championships since 2017 when the pair of Naomi Too and Gaudencia Makokha represented the country in Vienna, Austria.
"The FIVB requested all Confederations to submit their qualification pathway for the FIVB Women’s Beach Volleyball World Championships. As we could not organise a qualification tournament within the qualification window, we submitted a qualification pathway which was within the FIVB guidelines. The FIVB approved our proposal," read the letter in part.
"Based on the above pathway we computed all points accumulated and drew up a ranking table based on the qualification pathway above.
"Furthermore, after the ranking we conducted an eligibility assessment of all teams to ensure they conform to the FIVB eligibility requirements.
"This allowed us to determine the 4 teams that would represent Africa at the FIVB Women’s Beach Volleyball World Championships and the reserve teams in order or ranking that would replace any qualified team that would have not taken up their slot."
