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Kenya in Australia for final Grand Prix matches


Kenya will this weekend extend its international exploits to a third continent inside a month, ahead of the final round of matches in Group 3 in the women’s FIVB Grand Prix in Australia’s capital city of Canberra.

The national women volleyball team managed four of out of a possible six wins during the preliminary phase of this competition held in Mexico and Algeria to storm the semi-finals.

The team defeated Mexico (on two occasions), Algeria and Australia, but lost to Peru and Colombia in the preliminaries.

These results assured Kenya of third place in the eight team group behind Colombia and Peru, and ahead of Cuba, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Mexico and Australia, respectively.

The Australian schedule has Kenya facing the host team, also referred to as the Volleyroos, in the semi-finals on Saturday, in a contest the remaining African team  in this competition will be seeking a third consecutive triumph over the same opponent in the past year.

RESPECTABLE FINISH

Another potentially absorbing contest against either Peru or Colombia lies in the offing on Sunday, should David Lung’aho and his charges make it to that stage.

A triumph against Australia will guarantee Kenya promotion to Group 2 – which statistically is the second best pool consisting of the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Argentina.

That result will also guarantee Kenya a respectable finish of between positions 14 and 22 in this 28 team competition.

“Being our second outing ever in this competition, we planned to qualify for atleast the play-offs, but now we have to try and win the cup, team captain Brackcides Agala told Nairobi News during an interview on social media.

The Kenyan contingent is expected in Canberra on Thursday morning, following a 36 hour air trip from Algeria with stop overs in Doha, Bangkok and Sydney.

“Part of our success in Algiers was down to the hospitality accorded by the Kenyan mission in Algiers, led by Ambassador Moi Lemoshira who even ensured we were prepared Kenyan food and came over to cheer us through the games,” Lung’aho said.