NATIONAL men’s handball team will return to men’s Senior Africa Cup of Nation Championships from January 21-30 in Cairo, Egypt after 11 years in the cold.
Victor Oduol of Ulinzi in action against Gilbert Ojok of Uganda Prisons during their East and Central Africa Club handball Championship
The last time Kenya took part in the event was in 2004.
Kenya return to the biannual event by virtue of their 12th position on the International Handball Federation (IHF) ranking. They will be joined by eighth placed Libya, Gabon (9th), DR Congo (10th) and Morocco (11th).
Hosts Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Angola and Cameroon will participate in the event considering they hold the top five positions in that order in the ranking.
Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) fixtures secretary Charles Omondi confirmed the country will honour the invite.
Omondi said it has been long since the men’s team featured in the event and the federation is doing everything possible for the team to start early preparations.
“It goes without saying that we are privileged to get the invite. The chance will give us an opportunity to compete against the top teams in the sport and at the same time, players will gain the needed exposure and experience,” said the official.
“We are fresh from featuring in the just ended AAG, where we posted dismal performance. We intend to learn from the mistakes and improve on the performance during the championship and hopefully, our presence will be felt.”
The event will act as the Olympic Qualifiers
Elsewhere, KHF women’s national league champions Nairobi Water have intensified training at the Nyayo Stadium ahead of the forthcoming Africa Club Championship set for October 21-31 in Morocco. The team under the stewardship of Jack Ochieng have been pooled in Group ‘A’ alongside Petro of Angola, FAP (Cameroon), CIV (South Africa) and Phoenix (Gabon). Pool ‘B’ has Primero (Angola), Abo Sport ( Congo), HC Heritage (Cote d’ Ivoire ), Al Ahly (Egypt) and Top line Nigeria.
