NAIROBI, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan men's handball team will miss out on the Africa Games, which will be held in Rabat, Morocco in August after the African Handball Confederation (CAHB) cancelled the Zone Five qualifiers.
Instead, the CAHB has awarded Egypt the single slot reserved for the region.
Kenya coach Peter Mwathi said here on Sunday that they had done all the required preparation to head to Kampala for the Zone Five qualifiers, which get underway on Monday, but were asked to skip the event because the Africa body offered Egypt, who are the champions the slot.
"We regret the decision by the CAHB, but we have no choice but to accept. The players were all psyched up for the competition," said Mwathi.
The Kenyan men's team will, however, channel their energies to the Africa Cup of Nation and Olympic qualifiers scheduled for Tunisia next year.
"Only the Olympics inspire us. We will focus on it and start early preparations so that the players can have international exposure. We have provided our eight-month training program, budget and logistic requirements to the government and hopefully we will get the clearance to compete in the qualifiers," said Mwathi.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan women's team is in Kampala for the Zone Five Africa Games qualifiers.
Kenya, who are the zonal champions, will be led by coach Jack Ochieng and will take on hosts Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Egypt. Only the winner of the tournament will secure the ticket to Africa Games in Morocco in August.
"It will be a competitive event considering only one team will qualify for the quadrennial event in Morocco. I hope that team will be Kenya," said coach Ochieng.
