Volleyball team denied access to Kasarani

The national men's volleyball team has shifted their training base from Kasarani Stadium to the Nyayo National Stadium, ahead of next week's Zone Five All Africa Games (May 1-6), in Kigali, Rwanda.

The team, which has been training under the tutelage of Cooperative Bank coach and former national team player Geoffrey Omondi for the past three weeks, were forced to relocate to Nyayo yesterday morning to pave way for a week-long Equity Bank's Wings to Fly event at the 28-year-old multi-purpose stadium.

"The team has been training there since the beginning of the month. We had booked and paid for the training arena up to the end of the month. But I understand Equity Bank came later and booked the entire complex for this week. Therefore the team was denied access and told to go to Nyayo. We are saddened by the turn of events," said a senior Kenya Volleyball Federation official who sought anonymity.

"Volleyball is an indoor game, how can you play or train in an open air like Nyayo and more so, in a rainy season? It doesn't make sense at all. It's a final week of preparations and the boys need the best," he said.

However, Sports Stadia Management Board Public Relations Officer Asman Rakki denied the allegations that the team has been 'locked out', saying Kasarani had been booked months earlier and paid for by Equity Bank.

"We haven't locked them out of training. We have a huge event here and we have been fully booked by Equity Bank. They booked much in advance and they are utilising each and every space around. It is because of this that we have relocated the national team to Nyayo," Rakki told FeverPitch.

The team, which departs for Rwanda on Friday, will battle with hosts Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt, and Uganda for a ticket to the 2015 Congo Brazzaville All Africa Games.