Kenya teams target volleyball World Cup berth

NAIROBI - After dominating the continental volleyball for some time, Kenyan officials are certain both the men and women teams will qualify for the World Cup in 2014, with qualification starting in June.

National women coach David Lung'aho, will be eying to be second time lucky and secure Kenya the ticket to the finals, which will be held in Italy next year.

On the other side, Gedion Chenge, who is in charge of the men team, wants to break the jinx and clinch the single ticket for Africa teams at the biggest stage in the sport, which will be held in Poland.

"We have the experience of playing at the international level. But the other teams in the region have been narrowing the gap and it will be hard for Kenyan players to expect to pick the Africa berth without a fight," said Lung'aho, Friday in Nairobi.

Kenya will host the women qualifiers, for the Eastern region, which will bring together teams from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Somalia. The men tournament will be held in Kampala, Uganda.

Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) Chairman Waithaka Kioni said the qualification campaign will be in three phases.

The first will be on regional level, where the winner will proceed to the second round, at zone stage. Winners of the zones will clash in the final round where the champion will represent Africa in Italy (Women) and Poland (Men).

To show intend, Kenya men coach, has asked the federation to seek the service of five foreign based stars to boost the country's chances to secure the ticket to Poland.

Chenge has called in Philip Maiyo (Turkey), a leading right attacker, alongside Oman based Evans Bera. Others are Japan based trio Silas Kipruto, James Ontere and Michael Chemos.