NAIROBI, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya women's volleyball team remains on course to defend their Africa Games title by winning the Zone Five championships in Kampala, Uganda on Tuesday.
Kenya, who won the gold medal four years ago in Brazzaville, Congo, became the first team to book their zonal ticket for Africa Games and will join six other regional winners in the finals alongside hosts Morocco in Rabat in August.
Uganda finished second while Rwanda won the bronze medal ahead of Ethiopia.
Coach Japheth Munala said here Wednesday that the team will now turn their focus to the Africa Nations Cup volleyball tournament, which will be held in Cairo, Egypt in June, where they will seek revenge against Cameroon, who beat them in 2017.
"We have won the ticket to Africa Games. However, we still have the Africa Nations Cup, tournament which will be in Cairo and it will have more teams. We want the best preparation for the team because this competition will be critical ahead of our start for the Olympic Games qualification program," Munala said.
The Africa Games will be limited to eight teams, host morocco, Kenya representing zone Five and other six zonal champions. However, the Africa Nations Cup is open to 24 teams based on their rankings.
Kenya will now be taken over by Italian coach Shaileen Ramdoo who arrived in the country two weeks ago to help the team prepare for the Olympic Games qualification.
Ramdoo will decide on the 14-member team.
"The foreign coach will come help raise the level of competition and the game of our girls and increase our chances of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics," said Waithaka Kioni, chairman of Kenya Volleyball Federation.
Kenya will compete at the Intercontinental Olympic qualifying tournament set for August in Italy where they will face the host team, who finished second at the World Championships, the Netherlands and Belgium from Aug. 2-4. Only the winner will secure a ticket to 2020 Tokyo Games.
Should Kenya fail, they still have another chance through the Africa Olympic qualifiers in April next year to secure their berth in Tokyo. Kenya last competed at the Olympics in Athens in 2004. Enditem