THE national volleyball senior team will enter residential training on January 15, 2014 to prepare for the final round of FIVB World Cup championships qualifiers set to be held in Cameroon. Head Coach Paul Bitok said that he is working hard to ensure that his team is engaged in warm-up matches ahead of their participation in the final round of the qualification process. “I am happy that we managed to reach the final qualification round. My players displayed good performances. Our focus now is to ensure that we continue to work hard and prepare them for the final round,” “We are in a tough group and we want to engage players in early preparations such that we maintain a good shape ahead of the tournament. Players have improved a lot and I hope with many more exposures, they will gain experience to nurture them into elite players,” added Bitok. After winning silver in the FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship Zone five group Q qualifiers, Rwanda was drawn against hosts Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria and Gabon, while Kenya who finished as second runner up is in group of African champion Egypt, Botswana, Zambia and Cape Verde. Egypt finished on top of the five nation tournament with win-loss ratio of 4-0, as they already secured a final phase berth as one of the top three African teams in the FIVB Ranking. Rwanda won the silver medal with 3-1 ratio and Kenya came third with 2-2. Rwanda and Kenya will proceed to the final phase. The final round, which will be played in either late January or early February 2014, will decide the top three teams that will represent Africa at the 2014 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championships to be held in Poland.
