Beach volleyball: No time to rest as team hunts for Tokyo tickets

Praxides Agallu (left) and team-mate Medrine Wabwire (right) take a break jointly with Phosca Kasisi (centre), who has been appointed as the captain of the Kenya Beach Volleyball team, during a training session ahead of the Africa Qualifying Sub-Zonal 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games Qualifier which will be held in Tanzania early this month, January 02, 2020. The tournament starts on January 07, 2020 in Dar. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

National women beach volleyball team captain Phosca Kasisi will lead the squad in search of a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the second phase of the African qualifiers, in Nigeria.

The team leaves tomorrow ahead of the qualifiers that begin on Thursday to Saturday at Jabi Lake in Abuja, where the top two teams will qualify for the third and final phase to pick African representatives for the Summer games.

Head coach Sammy Mulinge said he retained the team that featured in phase one of the qualifiers in Dar es salaam, Tanzania in January.

“As the technical bench, we settled for the team that travelled to Tanzania as it gained enough exposure,” said Mulinge.

The coach singled out new call ups Maureen Wekesa and Veronica Adhiambo, both from Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), saying they had shown great improvement.

“We were impressed by the two youthful players since they joined the camp and we shall give them more opportunities in future,” said Mulinge, after dropping them from the travelling group.

Gaudeciah Makokha (Pipeline), Phosca Kasisi (KCB), Braxides Agala and Yvonne Wavinya, both from Kenya Prisons, made the team.

The coach petitioned clubs to be releasing players in good time once called for national duty.

“We need tight competition before naming the final squad and this can only happen when clubs release players on time,” said the coach.

 “We are only two steps away from playing in the Olympic Games and we have what it takes to realise our dream,” said captain Kasisi.

Kasisi added that their focus is to win in Nigeria during the phase two round, where they have been grouped in pool C with hosts Nigeria, Cape Verde, Republic Democratic of Congo and Zambia.

“Our focus is the second phase as we know all the teams are equally good and well prepared for the event that runs from March 5-7 at Jabi Lake Beach in Abuja, Nigeria,” said Kasisi.

Meanwhile, the men national team started its camp in Mombasa yesterday (Monday) under Coach Patrick Owino to prepare for the second phase of the Olympic Games qualifiers to be held in Gambia from March 12-16.

The Kenyan men team is in group C together with the host Gambia, Mauritius, Botswana and South Sudan.