KPA jet out for African tourney

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) men volleyball team have jetted out of the country for the African Club Championships set to serve off on Sunday in Tunisia. 

KPA left Mombasa on Tuesday morning for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi where they boarded an early morning flight to Tunis via Cairo, Egypt.

Team manager Joel Maiyo Koskei said the players were in high spirits after been seen off by KPA Head of Administration Bildad Kisero.

“We are all set for the championships after three weeks of intensive training, taking our players through all aspects of the game and believe the sky will be the limit,” he said.

Head coach Sammy Mulinge said he is travelling with 14 players after dropping only one player Jeffrey Ochieng' from the 15-member squad that has been training at KPA Makande Hall in Mombasa.

“We have had the best training ever which I hope will translate to good results so that our sponsors KPA can realise the value of investing their money in this team,” Mulinge said.

Sweden-based star Enock Mogeni, who was voted Most Value player at the 2019 league play-offs, will lead the attack despite being the last player to report to the residential training camp.

The 24-year-old Mogeni, who can play as an outside hitter and opposite, joined the rest of the team last Tuesday from his Sweden base where he is attached to Sodertelge. Mulinge believes he will be of great help to the team.

Mulinge was impressed by the player's fitness level adding that his technical bench which has assistant Samson Sunguti and trainer/player James Ontere was now hoping for the best.

KPA, who will playing at such a high profile championships for the first time ever, will have regular participants General Service Unit for company after Kenya Prisons withdrew.

KPA have set themselves a quarter-final target which Mulinge believes is realistic based on his squad which comprises mainly of rookies.

“As KPA we want to give the players as much exposure as possible, the good reasons we decided to sponsor them for this high profile event for the first time ever,” said Kisero whose docket covers sports.

Apart from libero Sam Juma who represented Kenya at the All Africa games qualifiers in Rwanda in 2018 and middle blocker Sammy Ngeny who has been a trialist with the national team, all other players are green without any international exposure.

Squad

Setters

Bosire Elijah, Emmanuel Mwandori

Opposite

Peter Kamara, Mogeni Enock, James Ontere

Outside hitters

Dennis Omollo, Chris Owalo, Jimmy Mwaniki, David Thuita

Liberos

Sam Juma, Fredrick Muiruri

Middle blockers

Lewis Ogutu, Sammy Ngeny, Julius Lelei, Brian Nyabera