Nairobi, July 17: Kenya will be going to the World Championships in Japan this October in high spirits after winning the Four-Nation Pre World Championships tournament in Nairobi on Sunday.
The "African Queens", as the Kenyans are fondly known at home, drubbed Egypt 3-1 (25-12, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23) to win the three-day tournament staged at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani Gymnasium.
Kenya finished the tournament unbeaten having dropped only one set. Their key match against the Egyptians was watched by a capacity 6,000 crowd that broke into song and dance immediately it was clear the home team was set for victory.
Kenya had earlier beaten both Nigeria and Cameroon with identical 3-0 victories. These two sides also lost to the Egyptians, although Cameroon managed a set.
Nigeria went on to beat World Championship-bound Cameroon 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-19) to finish third.
Kenya, Cameroon and Egypt are all going to Japan and were using the tournament as part of their preparations. At the end of the tournament, Kenya's Dorcas Ndasaba was named the Most Valuable Player.
Others were: Best Setter: Asta Gamkouam (Cameroon), Best Receiver: Abdel Fatah (Egypt), Best Attacker: NgoNkot (Cameroon), Best Libero: Judy Tarus (Kenya), BestBlocker: Jalmet Ladi (Nigeria) and Best Server: ElShamy Ingy (Egypt).
Kenya took only 98 minutes to win the match against Egypt. They started the match forcefully giving the visitors little time to settle.
"Our plan was to go full blast in the first two sets and it worked," said Kenya head coach David Lung'ahu.
Lung'ahu said the tournament had given him a clear view of what the girls can do ahead of the Japan tournament.
"We shall be looking at our strong and weak areas with a view to getting the right formation for the World Championships," Lung'ahu said.
Summarised results:
Egypt v Cameroon: 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-23)
Kenya v Nigeria: 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-17)
Nigeria v Egypt: 1-3 (15-25, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25)
Cameroon v Kenya: 0-3 (23-25,15-25,16-25)
Cameroon v Nigeria: 0-3 (14-25, 21-25,19-25)
Kenya v Egypt: 3-1 (25-12, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23)
Team line-ups and action from the Kenya-Egypt match in the Four Nations
pre-World Championships tournament in Nairobi. Kenya are in white and red,
with Egypt in green and black.
(Finny Muyeshi, Kenya Volleyball Federation Press Officer)
