Kenya presents huge budget for volleyball World Championships

NAIROBI, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will raise 1 million U.S. dollars for team preparation ahead of 2018 women's volleyball world championships in Japan, officials said on Thursday.

Another 3 million dollars will be needed to cater for the team's stay in Japan for the tournament, which will be held in five Japanese cities -- Hamamatsu, Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo from Sept. 29 to Oct. 20.

KVF first vice chairman Martin Makokha said they are entering an agreement with a number of stakeholders to try and raise the amount for the team.

Kenya team had poor preparations prior to their trip to Yaounde, Cameroon in July for the Africa Nations Cup.

"We must focus on early preparations and hope the government will provide enough funds in time for the trip to Japan," Makokha said in Nairobi.

As a result of poor preparations, Kenya team were defeated by host Cameroon but still qualified for the competition, where they are pooled in Group D alongside Brazil, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Serbia and Kazakhstan.

African champions Cameroon, who are the continent's other representatives in the showpiece, will compete against the hosts, the Netherlands, Argentina, Germany and Mexico in Group A.

At the same time, Kenya intends to stage a four-nation tournament in Nairobi, which will be used as a build-up event to gauge the team's preparedness for the global championship.

"Plans are afoot to stage an international tournament in Nairobi, so that our women's team can use it to gauge their fitness and sharpen areas they need to work on," said Makokha.

Kenya will also be signing up a new foreign coach, seconded by global volleyball governing body FIVB.

Currently, the team is being trained by Japheth Munala, Dorcas Ndasaba, David Lung'aho and Godfrey Owese. Enditem