Wafalme hit camp ahead of Africa Championship

Wafalme hit camp ahead of Africa Championship

National men’s volleyball team, Wafalme, on Tuesday hit the camp for the preparations of the 2021 African Nations Volleyball Championships set to begin on September 7 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The 18-man squad converged for the residential camp at the Nyayo National Stadium just a day after the completion of the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) National League playoffs held in Mombasa.

Head coach Gideon Tarus, who will shoulder the responsibility of guiding the Wafalme to glory at the premier championship after he was appointed last week, has dropped seven players from the provisional squad he had named last week, and replaced them with another equal number.

GSU’s left attacker Naftali Chumba and libero Noah Bett are the latest inclusions in the squad after the duo played a key role during the league playoffs in Mombasa where the paramilitary side won a record-extending 14th men’s title.

Others who have been called up are the Kenya Prisons quartet of Daniel Kiptoo, Rodgers Kipkirui, Meshack Wambua and Mike Chemos- who helped the Warders finish second behind GSU. Kenya Ports Authority’s opposite attacker Peter Kamara was also included.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Tarus was confident the squad will hit top form before they fly out for Kigali on September 5.

“We’ve a very short time between now and the serve off but I’m sure we will have sharpened our skills by the time we leave for Kigali. All these players were in their respective teams which participated in the recently concluded playoffs and so they are all fit and need just fine-tuning. We only need to create synergy and chemistry in the squad because the players are from different clubs,” Tarus, who is also the GSU coach, said.

He urged his players to use the remaining days to push their claims to go to the biennial championships before he trims the 18-member squad to 14, warning he will not be swayed by big names.

“We will select the final squad merely based on merit and not big names and also the clubs the players are coming from. I urge them to work extra hard in the remaining days so they may need to pull on a national team shirt in Rwanda,” he added.

Tarus who replaced Moses Epoloto will be assisted by Kenya Prisons coach and Kenya Volleyball Federation Technical Director David Lung’aho and Kenya Ports Authority coach Sammy Mulinge.

The best performance of Wafalme in a continental championship was in 2011 when they finished third during the All African Games which was held in Maputo Mozambique.

Full Squad

Peter Kamara, Aggrey Kibungei, Daniel Kiptoo, Enock Mogeni, Cornelius Kiplagat, Rodgers Kipkirui, Denis Omollo, Meshack Wambua, Elphas Makuto, Mike Chemos, Brian Melly, Naftali Chumba, Bernard Wechuli, Nelson Bitok, Sam Juma, Noah Bett, Simion Kipkorir, Lewis Ochieng, Nicholas Matui

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Gideon Tarus Wafalme 2021 African Nations Volleyball Championships

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