Bullish Wafalme eye Africa Games ticket

The national men’s volleyball team, Wafalme Stars, have their eyes trained on earning a ticket to the Africa Games when the qualifiers begin in Cairo Egypt this Saturday.

The 13th edition of the Africa Games will be held in Accra Ghana from March 8- 23 and despite the presence of CAVB Championing Egypt in the qualifiers, head coach Gideon Tarus says he won't be cowed by the presence of the nine-time African champions.

“We had issues with our reception and backward defense but nowadays we have improved a lot. With the young boys that we have in our squad we have been sharpening them up since they were in school and colleges and they have improved,” he explained. “So we don’t have a big challenge that we can say can make us lose to Egypt except the fighting spirit, but we will push our player to have it and we will win,” said Tarus.

At the same time team captain Brian Meli is also confident they will stop Egypt having beaten them in the past.

“We expect a good outing, we are facing Egypt which is a powerhouse in African volleyball but it's not a big deal because we beat them in Rwanda 3-2 , so there is nothing big, we are going to qualify,” said Meli.

The final squad will be released on Wednesday with 12 players each being selected to represent Wafalme Stars and  the national women side, Malkia Strikers,  before travelling on 20th January to Cairo.