Africa Volleyball Championships cancelled as virus bites

The 2020 African Volleyball Men’s and Women’s Club Championships have been postponed to a later date as the coronavirus pandemic continue to stretch far and wide.

The two annual competitions were both set for next month in Egypt’s capital Cairo, with women’s fiesta running from April 2 to 11 while the men’s show was primed for April 14 to 22.

Announcing the development on Sunday, the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) President Amri Elwani said various travel limitations and restrictions in the continent informed the decision to put the championships on hold.

“While Al Ahly Sporting Club in liaison with the relevant authorities in Egypt had put in place measures to ensure safety and wellbeing of all the players, officials and the spectators who were to take part in the championship, CAVB, the Federation and Al Ahly Club recognises the fact that there are various international travel limitations and restrictions in much of the continent that impact the ability of some participants to take part in the tournaments.

“The agreement to postpone the championships have thus been arrived at in the best interest of all the parties considering that the health of the athletes, officials and fans is to be given top priority by all sporting authorities,” said Elwani in a statement.

Bronze medalists Kenya Pipeline, Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) league champions Kenya Prisons and KCB – were all lined up to represent Kenya in the women’s category while fourteen-time KVF winners GSU and Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) were set to fly men’s flag.

The deadly virus which has plunged the global sporting calendar into confusion, has already affected the men’s and women’s national beach volleyball teams who failed to travel for their Olympic Games qualifiers assignments.

Also, after the government’s directive to ban all public gatherings in Kenya for a period of one month after one case was confirmed last week, KVF national regular league has also been halted.

Kisumu County was set to host the second leg of the league from March 27-29.