Kenya’s FIVB-seconded coach Shailen Ramdoo has warned the national women’s volleyball team not to be complacent ahead of the All Africa Games set for August 19-31 in Rabat, Morocco.
Ramdoo sentiments come after the team was once again paired with rivals Cameroon, Senegal and Algeria in Pool 'B' during the draws released on Tuesday.
On paper, Kenya and Cameroon are favoured to proceed to the last four if the last FIVB ranking is anything to go by.
However, the Italian coach warned that they should not rule out Senegal who will be buoyed by the presence of three professional players in their team. Cameroon are placed 17 while Kenya are ranked 20. Algeria and Senegal sit a distance 30th and 46th respectively.
Ramdoo said the East Africans should first focus on emerging among the top two teams in the pool before thinking about who they will play in the semi-final and finally the finals.
“Really, we should not get ahead of ourselves at least for now. If anything let us first focus on the group matches. Interestingly, we have been drawn in tough Pool 'B' alongside the nations we played against during the recent African Nation Cup in Egypt and it will be interesting to see how it will pan out,” observed the tactician.
He added: “The fact that we won against Cameroon in the group stages and they turned the tables on us in the finals definitely says something about the two nations.
"However, we should not go ahead of ourselves and think the two teams will proceed to the semi-finals based on past performance. Senegal will also not be pushovers and really we just need to get our act together and go out there and perform well,” he added.
Worth noting though is that the two nations will be buoyed by their participation in the recently concluded Intercontinental Olympic Qualifiers in Catania, Italy where they failed to record wins.
Coincidentally, both sides lost all their matches with Kenya succumbing to Italy, Netherlands and Belgium in Pool F matches and Cameroon falling to Brazil, Dominican Republic and Azerbaijan with identical 3-0 sets defeat. Pool 'A' has hosts Morocco, Botswana, Mauritius and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the team is decrying lack of training session at the Moi Stadium indoor Arena, Kasarani after the facility was booked for next week’s East Africa Community Military Games.
“It’s really unfair that the team is not accessing the facility to train when they have a major event coming up. However, we remain hopeful that the team will depart to Morocco on Wednesday for a 10-day camp before event serves off,” bemoaned a Kenya Volleyball Federation official who sought anonymity.
