Kenya men's beach volleyball team eliminated from Olympic qualifiers
Kenya's Enock Mogeni blocks a spike from Mozambique's Jorge Monjane during their CAVB Continental Cup cum Olympic qualifiers in Agadir, Morocco on June 24, 2021.
What you need to know:
- The pair of Enock Mogeni and Brian Melly that form Kenya Team Two lost to Mozambique's Team One duo of Ainaduwo Martinho and Jorge Monjane 2-0 (21-13, 21-17)
- Kenya Team One pair of Ibrahim Oduor and James Mwaniki also went down to Team Two of Jose Mondlane and Eldevino Nguvo 2-0 (21-13, 21-15)
- Patrick Owino's charges will on Friday play classification matches to determine positions five to eight against Tunisia who lost to much improved Ghana in another quarter-final match
It's the end of the road for the Kenya men's beach volleyball teams after losing to Mozambique in the quarter-finals of the CAVB Continental Cup cum Olympic qualifiers in Agadir, Morocco on Thursday evening.
The pair of Enock Mogeni and Brian Melly that form Kenya Team Two lost to Mozambique's Team One duo of Ainaduwo Martinho and Jorge Monjane 2-0 (21-13, 21-17).
Kenya Team One pair of Ibrahim Oduor and James Mwaniki also went down to Team Two of Jose Mondlane and Eldevino Nguvo 2-0 (21-13, 21-15).
It was sweet revenge for Mozambique who had lost to Kenya in the golden match at the group stage.
Patrick Owino's charges will on Friday play classification matches to determine positions five to eight against Tunisia who lost to much improved Ghana in another quarter-final match.
Owino bemoaned the outcome but said they will push for a better placement in the ranking matches.
"The players pushed but I guess it was not good enough. Fatigue was evident since our teams won most of the group stage matches through the golden match," said Owino.
In the match against Mozambique Team Two, Kenya trailed their opponents throughout the tie as Oduor's spikes went wide.
Nguvo's excellent backcourt defence made it hard for Kenya to score as Mozambique led 13-8 and 17-11.
Mwaniki bagged two quick points from a block and an ace but Mozambique held onto their lead to take the set 21-13.
In the second set, Kenya pushed for a good start but everything fell apart. Every effort from Kenya was a gift to their opponents as they trailed 3-10 and 10-16.
Oduor and Mwaniki grew into the game and scored at will to close the gap 17-14 but once again the mauriding Mozambicans emerged victorious.
Following Thursday's results, Ghana will play Egypt in one of the semi-finals, while hosts Morocco have a date with highly-fancied Gambia.
Morocco saw off Egypt as Gambia overpowered Rwanda in the other last eight matches.
The winner of the Continental Cup will represent Africa in next month's Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
