National women’s beach volleyball head coach Patrick Owino was impressed with Kenya’s victory against the Gambia in their All Africa Games opener in Rabat, Morocco yesterday.
Owino said the win gives the team morale and will work well for their ambitions in the quadrennial event.
“We are aiming for the final — gold or silver medal — and today’s (Friday) victory has set the pace. We prepared well and we are ready to go to the end of the championship. The pooling looks good to me,” noted Owino, a former Kenyan volleyball international.
The Kenyan pair of Gaudencia Makokha and Naomi Too embossed their intentions to top Pool ‘B’, which also has the Gambia, Nigeria and Benin, and advance to the quarterfinals. The duo rout Gambia in straight sets of 21-12 and 21-10 to start their campaign on a high.
In their second preliminary tie, Kenya will come face-to-face with Nigeria today and Owino is confident his charges will brave the opposition.
“It will be a tough match but we are up to the task. We need to beat them and we have planned for that,” added Owino.
Hosts Morocco, alongside the Gambia’s first team, Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Sudan make up Pool ‘A.’ The third group comprise of Mauritius, Rwanda, Algeria and Zimbabwe, while Pool ‘D’ has Mozambique, Egypt, Niger and Senegal.
