African title on sight as Wafalme land in Kigali

The national men’s volleyball team, Wafalme, touched down in Kigali on Sunday afternoon beaming with confidence they will finally put an end to their misery at the continental volleyball, as the African Nations Championship gets underway Tuesday at the Kigali Arena.

Unlike the women’s team Malkia Strikers who have made a huge progress in the continent-winning a record nine African titles-Wafalme’s best performance in a continental scene was in 2011 when they finished third during the All African Games held in Mozambique.

Kenya skipped the 2019 edition of the biennial premier championship held in Tunisia and they finished ninth in the 2017’s event that had attracted 14 nations hosted in Egypt’s capital Cairo.

Head coach Gideon Tarus believes he has enough quality in his Kenyan side to stage a good fight against any team adding he ‘simply needs to connect the dots and get Wafalme fired up.’

“We can be where our women’s team has reached and the federation has now seen the importance of improving the standards of the men’s team. I believe I’ve the best arsenal to fight for this year’s title and we will also make Kenyans proud just like the Malkia Strikers,” Tarus told Citizen Digital after landing at the Kigali International Airport in Rwanda’s capital.

Tarus’ assistant David Lungáho, who made huge success with Malkia Strikers as head coach before he started handling men teams in 2019, said their work was cut out in their bid to improve the Wafalme’s fortunes.

“We’ve the talent in the team which is able to match our opponents’ strength. However, there is a lot which should be done to reach where the Malkia has reached. We need to have a youthful team which will gradually start to dominate the African scene,” Lungáho, who is also the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) technical director, said.

Upon landing, the 14-member squad plus six officials underwent mandatory Covid-19 tests and they will be staying in a hotel under quarantine until Monday afternoon, when they can start training outside—but other movements will be highly restricted.

The ten-day championship draws will be conducted on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s serve off.

Tunisia are the defending champions and they will be eyeing their 11th title in total at the championship which has attracted 17 teams.

Full list of teams participating

Kenya, Tunisia, Tanzania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, DRC Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria , Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda.