NAIROBI, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya women's volleyball team will have to wait for the Africa Olympic qualifiers in January to try to earn a ticket to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, as they finished the Intercontinental Olympic qualification tournaments without a win.
During the FIVB Pool F Olympic qualifying tournament, Kenya lost three straight matches to Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium to tail the four-team group in Catania, Italy this weekend.
"It's a wrap for us in Italy. It's always a learning curve," said Triza Atuka, Kenya's cross spiker. "The focus is on the big project, the Africa qualifiers and Africa Games."
However, head coach Shailen Ramdoo remains optimistic the country will weather the storm and claim Africa's sole Olympic spot at the continental qualifiers in January.
"We were using the tournament in Italy for experience and finding out what we need to work on. We now head to the Africa Games in Morocco and hope to win the gold medal," the coach said.
Apart from the hosts Japan, Brazil, Russia, the United States, Serbia, Italy and Olympic champions China have secured their berths from the FIVB six qualifying pools for the Tokyo Games.
The five remaining Olympic spots will be filled in January through qualification tournaments at continental level.
