Al Ahly beat KCB to lift Africa women’s volleyball crown

By Bismarck Mutahi

The 24th African Clubs Championships volleyball tournament ended on a sore note for the hosts after Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) lost to Egypt’s Al Ahly in the final at the Kasarani gymnasium.

After the controversy that had dogged the tournament resulting in two Kenyan clubs deducted points after fielding ineligible players, it was not the kind of result that Kenyan fans expected from the bankers.

The Egyptians, however, proved a tough nut to crack from the opening set and the experienced hands of Margaret Indakhala and Esther Ouna could not stop KCB from losing 3-1 (22-25, 22-25, 25-20, 22-25) in the final yon Sunday.

It was, however, a bright start for the bankers who were the first to register the first point on the scoreboard, but after tying the scores at 2-2, 6-6, there was no looking back for the Al Ahly.

Centre attacker Sayed Hagar led most of the attacks for the North Africans and national team libero Mildred Odwako from KCB could do little to pick the loose balls.

Quick thinking

The North Africans were also ably supported by quick thinking of their experienced coach Raouf Mahmoud, who ensured he made the right substitutions when KCB gained momentum.

The Egyptian was happy with the victory but said KCB pushed them all the way and he congratulated the Kenyans saying their day of glory will come soon.

His KCB counterpart Japheth Munala admitted his team lost to better opponents.

"I cannot say my team played well and I cannot say we missed some of our top players (in reference to Dorcas Ndasaba now with Rwanda’s APR) as Al Ahly deserved to win the trophy.

Despite having rallied to win the third set 25-20, KCB could not beat the Egyptians in the fourth set, which would have ensured a tiebreak.

Powerful spikes

It was also evident that the team missed the powerful spikes of Ndasaba even though the likes of captain Jackline Barasa did their best.

The home support did not also hold much in pushing KCB for victory, as the sizeable crowd at the gymnasium seemed to have given up hope when KCB trailed by 2-0 sets.

The bright side for KCB was that two of their players won individual awards with Odwako voted the best digger while Farida Efumbi was named the best booster.

Kenyan clubs have won the tournament a record 12 times and Kenya Prisons were defending the trophy, but couldn’t make the final after three of their top players were banned from the tournament.

The players were said to have played for some clubs in the Middle East and hence could not turn up for Prisons in the Africa event.

Both Prisons and Kenya Pipeline insisted they had not broken any rules and the players should have been allowed to play with Pipeline insisting will launch an appeal with the world volleyball body FIVB.a