The regional Hockey African Cup of Nations qualifiers earlier scheduled for January 18-24 has been pushed to March 1-7.
However, Kenya Hockey Union officials have welcomed the changes, saying that they will give the country enough time to prepare.
Kenya was to host the North East Africa regional event from January 18-24 but the event was pushed to March 1-7 due to the Covid-19 related restrictions.
National team men's captain Constant Wakhura said the delay is an added advantage for Kenya as it will give players time to continue boosting their fitness levels. The team train three days a week.
"The system the coach is implementing is trying to cover all areas. We are getting fitness with the ball and at the same time focusing on the basics. We now have more time to train and bond as a team," he said.
The men's team was to face Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Sudan Libya and Seychelles while their women counterpart had been pitted against Egypt, Sudan, Burundi, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Libya.
In other changes effected by the AfHF, the North-West Africa qualifiers which were to be hosted by Ghana in February, have been cancelled.
The AfHF executive board decided to cancel the tournament and consider Ghana and Nigeria (both men and women teams) as qualified.
This is after only the two nations confirmed participation.
Elsewhere, the Central-South Africa qualifiers set for February 19-27 in Zimbabwe will proceed as planned.
Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe (host) have all confirmed participation. Meanwhile, the African Cup for Club Championship that was postponed in December last year will be played from September 27 to October 3 in Blantyre, Malawi.
In the meantime, the Junior Africa Cup JAC has been rescheduled for March 22-28, 2021 in Ghana.
