By John Kwoba
NAIROBI, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will miss out on global volleyball age colmpetitions despite Africa receiving 10 places in boys and girls World Championships events owing to improved continental performances.
Tarek Al-Adwar, the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB), said on Friday that the rise in number of Africa teams is down to their good show in the previous competition.
"These elementary age competitions serve as the backbone for future stars," said Al-Adwar.
"Countries that have teams in the FIVB world championships will gain a lot, especially now that we are targeting the Olympic Games in 2020," he added.
Kenya, whose teams featured poorly in Africa championships, will miss out in any of the two gender competitions.
In boys' Under-19 world championship, Tunisia has been confirmed as the host in 2019 and will be joined by African champions Nigeria and Egypt, who emerged second during the competition held in Cairo in August. Kenya never sent a team to the boys Under-19 Africa Nations Cup.
"With three teams, Africa will have a better chance to tackle the world and boost the experience gained by African players," said Al-Adwar.
In the girls' category, Egypt has been granted the chance to host the Under-18 World Championship. Egypt who are the African champions secured qualification courtesy of their continental win and will be joined by Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Africa Under-18 competition was held in Nairobi with Kenya finishing fourth to miss out on automatic ticket to the world championships.
The men's Under-21 world championship has two vacancies for Africa, which will be taken up by continental champs Tunisia and silver medalists Egypt in the girls' event, Egypt and runners-up Rwanda have been given the nod.
