Makhoha and Agala crowned champions at Tour

Africa women beach volleyball gold medallists Gaudencia Makhoha and Brackcides Agala won the women’s title during the third leg of the national beach volleyball tour in Mombasa.

The international duo of Ibrahim Oduor and James Mwaniki won the men’s title.

The women’s champions saw off a resilient pair of Phoscah Kasisi and Yvonne Wavinya in the final played at The New Big Tree beach, Mombasa.

It was a see-saw match before the African queens, who made their maiden appearance in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games last year, carried the day with a 2-1 (21-18, 17-21, 15-10) win.

However, despite the defeat, the finalists will move to a residential camp in Mombasa later this week to prepare for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers scheduled for this month in Accra, Ghana.

The winners of the African qualifier set for March 24-29 will represent the continent at the Birmingham games in UK.

En route to the final, Makhoha and Agala dismissed the pair of Noel Murambi and Daisy Jepkorir 2-0 (21-18, 21-8) while Kasisi and Wavinya stormed to the final after seeing off Veronica Adhiambo and Naomie Too, who won the second leg in Makueni in December last year 2-1 (22-25, 25-17, 16-14).

In the women’s play-off for the third and fourth positions, Too and Adhiambo partnered to beat Murambi and Jepkorir in two straight sets of 21-15, 21-9.

In the men’s final, Oduor and Mwaniki edged out Cornelius Kiplagat and Nicholas Lagat 2-1 (21-16, 18-21, 16-14).

Nairobi will be the next stop for the fourth leg in April.

Meanwhile, men’s national volleyball Team Manager Sammy Mulinge said the national teams will camp in Mombasa for their training sessions.

“We need three weeks to prepare both men and women’s teams just to geat ready for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers,” said Mulinge.

He said Kenyan teams stand to perform better this time round.