in Agadir, Morocco

Kenya men's beach volleyball team lost their golden match against Nigeria 2-1(13-21,21-19,13-15) as the FIVB Continental Cup cum Olympic qualifiers got underway Tuesday.

Earlier, Kenyan side had recorded mixed results as the pair of Brian Melly and Enock Mogeni that forms Kenya Team Two saw off the Nigeria Team One duo of Simon Hillary and Obayemi Ogunshina 2-0 (21-15,21-13).

While the pair of Ibrahim Oduor and James Mwaniki that form Kenya Team One, succumbed to Nigeria team Two DUO of Ezeke Emenike and Chidebere Okeke 2-0 (21-16,21-16). The two countries had each five points prior to the golden match after a win-loss ratio.

Golden match is staged to break the tie between the countries. In the golden match, the countries get to chose their best two players from the four and in this case, Kenya coach Patrick Owino settled on Melly and Mogeni.

Nigeria coach Ajilore Kayode settled on Okeke and Emenike. In the first set, Melly and Mogeni had a slow start trailing 3-6 and 5-9 as the Nigerians took advantage of poor coverage at the back court. 

Emenike's individual brilliance infront of the net earned the West Africans points as Kenya began to find their footing, but still trailed 10-18 before losing the set 13-21.

Mogeni and Melly combined well in the second set as they led 8-5 and 15-13. Mogeni then earned free scores with his razor blade spikes that made it hard for Okeke to receive.

Kenya was unstoppable as Nigeria lost plot and conceded easy scores. However, miscommunication and poor judgment from the Kenyan duo awarded Nigeria points to close the gap to 20-18, but it was Kenya who reigned supreme to take the set 21-19 to set up a decider.

It was an equally balanced set with both teams tying 4-4 and 10-10, but the experience of the Nigerians carried the day as they secured a 15-13 win. Kenya coach Owino said it was a tough game.

"We just have to do better going forward. All is not lost and I believe the teams will recover ahead of Wednesday's matches against Mali," said Owino.

Nigeria coach Kayode said the victory against Kenya was huge.

"Kenya is a strong side and grabbing a win against them is a clear statement. But we will not be carried away since the event has just began," said Kayode. The Kenya teams will line up against Mali on Wednesday. Mali men's teams had lost to Mozambique 2-0 in their opening matches.