Kenya bags its first medal at African Games

Gilbert Kiprotich in Rabat,Morocco

Kenya bagged her first medal at the ongoing 12th edition of African Games in Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday settling for silver after losing 2-0 to Egypt in the women’s beach volleyball.

The Kenyan queens fell 21-13, 21-15 but will have Gaudencia Makokha and Naomi Too to thank for the runners up place.

Although Kenya started the match brightly, they lost momentum to a quick Egypt side who were ready for everything that Kenya threw at them.

Poor receptions and services characterised a bad day in office for Kenyan girls as they struggled to match the ruthless North Africans.

In his post-match reflection, Kenyan head coach Patrick Owino lauded his charges drawing positives from the loss.

“Of course we wanted gold but we lost concentration and focus in the match. However, I am happy for the silver because the girls did their best and for me think it is yet another milestone going home with silver,” said Owino.

The result is an improvement on the bronze medal Kenya bagged in the 2011 Games held in Maputo, Mozambique.

The team is also fresh from winning another bronze at the inaugural African Beach Games in Sal, Cape Verde in June and Makokha is certain great days awaits them in the future.

“We made some few mistakes and Egypt punished us but I think it is a story forward now that we have won silver and I certain that we will keep growing,” said Makokha.

Drawn in Pool B, Kenya began their campaign with a 2-0 win over Gambia before edging Nigeria 2-1 in their second match and thereafter sweeping aside Benin 2-0 to storm to quarters.

The Kenyans once again beat Nigeria 2-1 in quarters to proceed to the last four where they edged Mozambique 2-1 and set up the final match with Egypt.

Host nation Morocco who are the African Beach Games champions were eliminated long before the semis and according to Naomi Too, the level of competition in the sport is quite real.

“Every team in this championship was not easy, even in the group stage we had to fight hard. After this we move on, we have improved but we will have to train even harder for future competitions,” observed Too.

With the Olympic Games qualifiers the next step for Kenya, Owino says his team is now ready to fight for a slot in global competitions.

“I think we are in an upward trajectory and we are now turning our focus to Olympics qualifiers so that we can try and make it to Tokyo next year,” Owino said.