Nation Kenya calls for stronger support for Kenya’s men’s volleyball team
The African Men’s Volleyball Championship is due to begin in Tunisia on September 14, with Kenya’s Wafalme national team set to compete. According to Nation Kenya, 16 teams will take part in the competition. The winner will receive a direct berth at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, while the top three national teams will qualify for the 2027 FIVB Men’s World Cup in Poland.
A chance for first global tournaments
Wafalme have never played at the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the World Championship, and have also never won medals at the continental championship. The team’s best result at the African Championship was sixth place in Tunisia in 1995, when six national teams took part in the tournament.
In the previous two editions, Kenya finished ninth: in Kigali in 2021 and Cairo in 2023. The team is coached by Gideon Tarus. The editorial states that the national team can improve this result through hard work, discipline and the players’ belief in their own abilities.
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Women’s team performances
The authors compared Wafalme with Kenya’s women’s national team, Malkia Strikers, which finished second at the recent African Championship in Nairobi. The Kenyan team lost to Egypt 0:3 and did not qualify for the 2028 Olympics, but had previously secured participation in the 2027 FIVB Women’s World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States and Canada.
Malkia Strikers have competed at the Olympic Games four times, are preparing for their sixth World Cup appearance and have played at the Women’s World Championship eight times.
Criticism of preparations
Nation Kenya called on the Kenya Volleyball Federation, the government and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya to provide Wafalme with proper preparation, warm-up matches and adequate support for the athletes. The outlet also said that the team started the championship without a sufficient number of preparatory matches and that bonus payments had not been made in full.
