Prisons And GSU Swing Into Action in Cairo

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

Muigai Kiguru

28 April 2011

Sixteen teams will compete at this year’s men’s African club championship that starts today and ends on May 7 at the Abdallah Al Faysal Hall in Ahly Club, Cairo, Egypt.

This is a decline in entries from last year’s edition in Tunis, Tunisia where a record 22 teams took part including Kenya’s Prisons and General Service Unit outfits.

The two are again representing the country this year.

All time record holders Al Ahly remain the greatest favourites for overall victory. They seek to add another title to their eight titles and will be hoping to take advantage of the absence of local rivals Zamalek, who withdrew at the last minute. The withdrawal paved the way for the Al Guish, an Egyptian Army team, into the tournament.

The 2009 African nations championship silver medallist Algeria will be represented by champions Blida and Setif.

Other teams include FAP and Port (Cameroon), Daim Hamad, Al Saggana and Al Nahda from Sudan, Sunshine Brothers from Nigeria, Rukinzo from Burundi, Redskins from Lesotho, Inter Club form Congo Brazzaville and the National University of Rwanda.

The prestigious competition serves as a qualifier for the FIVB world championship that will be held in Doha, Qatar in December. The teams will play in four pools of four teams each in the preliminary round where the top two will qualify for the quarterfinal the third and fourth finishers in each pool at the preliminaries will play for the 9- 16 brackets.

The draw was to be conducted last night as organisers seek for a team to accompany Kenya Prisons women’s team in representing the continent at the world championship.

AllAfrica – All the Time