Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) have shelved today’s women’s national league matches as most of the club players are currently training with the national team at the Moi Stadium, Indoor Arena Kasarani.
The players drawn from champions Kenya Prisons, KCB and former champions Kenya Pipeline, are fresh from winning the Zone 5 All Africa Games qualifiers in Uganda and resumed training yesterday after arriving in the country on Wednesday afternoon.
KVF assistant organising secretary, John Oronje, said it will be unfair to the three clubs who have the majority of their players in the national team to be subjected to the KVF third leg at Eldoret Polytechnic grounds today.
“The players are from an International championship and went straight to the national team training ahead of other International events. In a way, the sides will be depleted,” said Oronje.
He was, however, non-committal on the men's fixtures, despite a number of teams contributing players to the national team ahead of next month’s zone 5 All Africa Games qualifiers to be staged in Nairobi.
He said, " It is up to the clubs to decide whether to play or not. The script is different when it comes to men's teams and I can’t decide for them. We will go with which individual clubs decide,” he noted.
Champions General Service Unit coach Gideon Tarus confirmed they will not play in the league match but will participate in the weekend’s Amaco/Pau Bitok International Volleyball championship.
Tarus said they have eight players in the national team and it will be difficult to raise a competitive side for their two matches in that situation. GSU were scheduled to play their local nemesis Kenya Prisons and Bungoma County.
Tarus observed: “We are third on the log and still unbeaten with six points and we want to guard the run. Therefore we won’t play in the league but we are keen on defending the AMACO title.”
League leaders Kenya Defence Forces team manager Alfred Chedotum confirmed they would play their matches as they seek to extend the lead on the log.
“We have two matches against Administration Police and Bungoma County and we are keen to record wins against them and hopefully bag six points,” observed Chedotum. KDF have nine points from threematches.
