NAIROBI, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- African volleyball governing body CAVB has confirmed the men's and women's teams that emerged from zonal qualifying games to compete in this year's African Games.
In the men's draw, hosts Morocco were grouped with Nigeria, Mauritius and Botswana in Pool A, while Algeria lineup against Egypt, Cape Verde and Cameroon in Pool B.
The women's category has Morocco battling it out in Pool A against Botswana, Mauritius and Nigeria. Pool B includes Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal and Algeria.
Defending women's champions Kenya will put everything on the line to fend off any pretender to the throne with the tournament coming just five months ahead of the Olympic qualifiers and a month before the World Cup in Japan.
The team returned home on Tuesday from the Intercontinental Olympic Qualifications in Italy, where they were defeated in all three of their group games.
In the group games, they will face old rivals Cameroon, who also came back home without a win at the Intercontinental Olympic Qualifications. In their last encounter in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations last month, Cameroon edged Kenya 3-2 to bag gold.
Kenya's head coach Shailene Ramdoo is hopeful he will guide the team to retain the Africa Games title.
"We have one build up match against Morocco before we start the Africa Games. We will use it to rectify our mistakes and hope the team will get revenge against Cameroon and not to forget the challenge the other sides will pose," Ramdoo said.
The 2019 African Games will be held from August 19-31 in Rabat, Morocco.
