Wafalme Stars edge Ghana to secure ninth place
Wafalme Stars libero James Mutero celebrates a point against Ghana during their 9th to 10th place final at the Cairo International Stadium on September 12, 2023.
What you need to know:
- In other classification matches, Tunisia beat Rwanda in straight sets (25-17,25-18,25-21) to finish fifth while Chad were awarded a walkover to settle seventh after Morocco failed to show up.
- Senegal thrashed Gambia 3-0 (25-20,25-21,25-23) to claim position 11 while Tanzania overcame Burundi 3-1 (25-20,22-25,25-20,25-16) in all East African affair to secure 13th place.
In Cairo, Egypt
Wafalme Stars wound up ninth at the ongoing African Nations championship after beating Ghana 3-2 (25-19,25-21,18-25,30-32,16-14) in the 9th to 10th place final here at the Cairo International Stadium on Tuesday.
In what was a repeat of the Group "C' encounter between these two sides last week, it was Kenya who started strongly winning the first two sets before complacency set in, allowing the Ghanaians to find a way back into this game.
Ibrahim Abdul Hameed's sideout completed Ghana’s comeback as they won the fourth set 32-30 to force the tiebreaker where Kenya coach Gideon Tarus recalled his first team.
Captain Enock Mogeni’s kill handed Kenya an 8-6 lead at the change of sides, but Ghana soon drew level when Simion Kipkorir’s serve crashed on the net for a 12-12 tie.
It was Kenya who got the match point at 14-12 when Ghana were penalized for a net touch, but unforced errors once again allowed the West Africans to recover.
Ghana outside hitter Ibrahim Abdul Hameed (left) attacks against Kenya during their 9th to 10th place final at the Cairo International Stadium on September 12, 2023.
Substitute Joshua Kimaru’s serve failed to go over the net while Shadrack Misiko’s spike from the middle went out after the ball bounced off the net.
Cornelius Kiplagat, a reliable attacking outlet for Kenya throughout this competition, handed Kenya the match point once again with a crucial sideout from position 4. And his ace from the next rally settled the tie at 16-14 to send the handful of Kenyan fans into a frenzy.
Tarus was elated after maintaining their ninth-place finish from the last edition held in 2021 in Rwanda.
“We relaxed a bit after winning the first two sets but the boys responded well. I’m happy with the win because we have maintained our position even though we wanted to go higher in this edition,” said Tarus.
Wafalme Stars coach Gideon Tarus gestures during their their 9th to 10th place final against Ghana at the Cairo International Stadium on September 12, 2023.
He noted that Kenya would have performed better with better preparations despite being drawn in a tough Group C that had Ghana, Libya and Cameroon; the latter two reaching the semi-finals.
“If this tournament was starting today, we would have gone past the quarter-finals because I now know my players well. It has taken us more than five matches to find a winning formula which underlines the importance of preparations.
“The top teams in this tournament are only fielding eight or nine players in every game. We have only lost to Libya, Cameroon and Egypt and these teams are among the last four so it shows we are good. We need to play many friendly matches in the preparation phase to be ready for this level,” noted Tarus who hinted at making a few additions to his team when they regroup for African Games qualifiers.
In other classification matches, Tunisia beat Rwanda in straight sets (25-17,25-18,25-21) to finish fifth while Chad were awarded a walkover to settle seventh after Morocco failed to show up.
Senegal thrashed Gambia 3-0 (25-20,25-21,25-23) to claim position 11 while Tanzania overcame Burundi 3-1 (25-20,22-25,25-20,25-16) in all East African affair to secure 13th place.
Final ranking
5. Tunisia
6. Rwanda
7. Chad
8. Morocco
9. Kenya
10. Ghana
11. Senegal
12. Gambia
13. Tanzania
14. Burundi
15. Mali
