Beach Volleyball team set for Italy

Gaudencia Makokha [left] and Brackcides Khadambi  during Kenya Volleyball Federation Beach Volleyball commission tournament held at Big tree Beach in Mombasa.26th February 2022.[Omondi Onyango,Standard]

Kenyan team for the 13th edition of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships has been unveiled.

The pair of Brackcides Agala and Gaudencia Makokha Olympians Gaudencia Makokha and Bracxides Agala will carry the country’s flag in the games that will be staged at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.

The event which is set to kick off on June 10, through June 19, will see twelve women’s pools and a similar number in the men’s category for the first phase. 

Kenya have been placed in Pool L of the World Beach Volleyball Championships set for June 10-19 in Rome, Italy. 

The duo will face off with the host Italy, Germany and Poland. 

Africa’s other representatives Morocco & Mozambique and Egypt are in Pool C & K respectively.

The team’s coach Sammy Mulinge said it has been challenging to prepare the duo since both live far from each other.

“We have been preparing remotely as Makokha is in Mombasa while Agala was away with her team in Tunisia for the Club Championships. However, they are at a good place physically and their experience will come in handy as they sharpen their technical skills,” said Mulinge.

Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) Qualification System to Championships directed that the top four highest-ranked teams per gender were to qualify for the Rome 2022 event. 

The quota place is allocated to the National Federation and each federation must choose its athletes respecting the criteria set.

Eligible athletes must have participated in, and scored points, in at least one of the homologated events listed in the qualification pathway which include the 2019 Africa Beach Games held in Cape Verde, 2019 African Games held in Rabat-Morocco, the 2021 CAVB Continental Cup 2 Round phase held in Agadir-Morocco and the 2021 CAVB Continental Cup Final phase held in Agadir - Morocco too.

The 48 teams per gender are distributed into 12 round-robin pools of four duos each. 

At the end of the pool phase, the top two teams in each pool and the best four third-placed pairs will advance to the elimination rounds.