Tanzania in volleyball qualifiers

Uganda has invited Tanzania to participate at the Beach Volleyball Olympic Qualifiers set for Kampala early next month.

Tanzania Amateur Volleyball Association’s (Tava) secretary general George John said Tanzania would compete against 11 zone five countries.

He named the countries as Egypt, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti and the hosts, Uganda.

John said the association has already forwarded the invitation to all local volleyball clubs.

“We forwarded it without delay in order to give them time to weigh up and confirm participation before November,” said John.

He said: “We have several good teams that can represent us well, so let’s hope that they will be interested to take part.”

The outspoken secretary named the teams with household names as Emau, JKT, Magereza and Jeshi Stars.

“Each club is required to select three players and their coach,” he said adding, “It’s is high time our players gained international exposure, thus we urge them to capitalise on this event.”

Tanzanian teams would be making their first appearance in the tournament should they decide to participate.

He said the earliest team to confirm participation would be allowed to send both men’s and women’s sides.

According to him, the clubs were free to choose between sending men’s or women’s teams.

Beach volleyball or sand volleyball, is an Olympic sport played which is played on sand.

Like other variations of volleyball, two teams, separated by a high net, try to score points against the other by grounding a ball on the other team’s court.

Competitive beach volleyball teams usually consist of two players, though sometimes can contain up to six players.

Originating in Southern California, beach volleyball now enjoys worldwide popularity, even in countries without traditional beaches like Switzerland.