African women's beach volleyball qualifier for Tokyo 2020 to be replayed
The Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) has reportedly successfully appealed for the replay of African women's beach volleyball qualifying matches for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
According to Citizen Digital, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has annulled the results of last year's qualifying event involving Nigeria, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cape Verde and Kenya.
The tournament, held in the Nigerian capital Abuja in March, was Group C in the second round of the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) Olympic qualification process.
Kenya, DR Congo and Cape Verde all withdrew from the competition with COVID-19 concerns, however, leaving Nigeria and Zambia to automatically progress to the final round of qualifying.
The KVF appealed to the FIVB for the event to be replayed, with President Waithaka Kioni claiming this had been granted.
"Following our appeal for the repeat of second-round CAVB Olympic qualifiers due to the COVID-19 related travel restrictions imposed on some teams which included Kenyan teams, I am pleased to report that the FIVB has approved a repeat of the women BVB qualifiers," he said.
Kenya's women's beach volleyball head coach Sammy Mulinge revealed he was "very happy" at the decision but urged the FIVB to release new dates for the tournament, though it is thought competition will be scheduled for March or April.
"Justice has finally been served and we’re very happy though it was not our fault not to participate," Mulinge said.
"We’ll meet tomorrow to lay out the training plans because we should start the preparations in earnest.
"We only have a month or so to prepare also putting in mind we’ve not been involved in any action since March last year.
"I urge the FIVB to quickly release the actual dates for the repeat of the second round because we also have Club Championships coming up and my players will also represent their respective teams.
"That’s the biggest challenge we’re likely to face but we will definitely get the way forward."
The two winners of the group progress to the CAVB Continental Cup, where there is just one place available for the 24-team tournament at Tokyo 2020.
The Olympics are now scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8 following their postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.