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The drawing of lots for the 2019 Women’s African Nations Championship took place in Cataract Hotel in Cairo, Egypt on Monday, where the seven participating reams were divided into 2 pools.
Hosts Egypt drawn in Pool A along with Senegal and Morocco, while defending champions Cameroon topped pool B with record holders Kenya, Botswana and Algeria.
Record holders Kenya (8 titles under their name), defending champions Cameroon as well as hosts Egypt come as heavy favouroites to win the title.
Algeria who won the cup in 2009 come also as great favourite with their renewed team.
This year’s women volleyball Africa Cup of Nations will only have seven teams after Tunisia, Ghana, Libya, Rwanda, Chad and Nigeria failed to confirm their participation.
The week-long tournament will be staged in Cairo, Egypt from Tuesday to July 14.
The Kenya team arrived in Cairo on Saturday hoping the tournament will kick off on Sunday, but the organizers pushed the event back to Tuesday.
Head coach Shailen Ramdoo says he is impressed with his team’s progress since he took over in May.
The Italian coach is keen to use the tournament as a gauge for his side ahead of next month’s Intercontinental Olympic qualifying tournament, which will be held in Rome from Aug. 2-4.
Italy, who finished second at the World Championships, the Netherlands and Belgium are up against minnows Kenya in battle for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic slot.
“We have been in Cairo for three days and the players have done well in training despite the high temperatures. We are working on the speed of our game and we hope to get them in rhythm before our first match,” said Ramdoo on Monday.
After the Africa Cup of Nations and the Olympic qualifiers, Kenya will still have to prove its mantle at the World Cup in Japan. Kenya and Cameroon have been picked for the World Cup set for September 14 to 29 owing to their high rankings by the global volleyball governing body FIVB.
Participating teams at the World Cup are hosts Japan, Cameroon, Serbia, China, South Korea, Russia, Netherlands, USA, Dominican Republic, Brazil, and Argentina.
Pool Composition:
Pool A: Egypt- Senegal- Morocco
Pool B: Cameroon- Kenya- Botswana- Algeria