Seychelles (right) lost 0-3 to Kenya Thursday

SEYCHELLES made a losing start in the Athens 2004 Africa Olympic qualifying finals being played in Nairobi, falling 0-3 to hosts Kenya.

In Thursday afternoon's (January 8) first match of the qualifiers which followed the official opening ceremony at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kenya were too good for Seychelles, who are trying to reassert themselves as Africa's top team, a position they occupied in 2001 after winning the African Nations' Cup in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Experienced coach Bernard Denis, who led the men's team to winning the Indian Ocean Islands Games (IOIG) gold medal in 1993 before finishing fourth in the African Championship in Algeria that same year, could not find any solution against the rampant Kenyans.  

Coached by Abdul Muge, Kenya, the only country to have represented Africa at the Olympics in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, to date, won the match 25-18, 25-14 and 25-12 on the Kasarani indoor court.

"Kenya played very, very well today (Thursday) and we had very little options against them. Overall, I'm satisfied with how my players performed apart from some mistakes at the service line which did not help our cause," said coach Denis who took over the team in November last year after Maurice Denys resigned.

It is to note that Kenya have called up five foreign based players to the squad in the hope of qualifying for the Olympics for the second time.

Those called up are United States-based Edna Chumo Chepng'eno, Roselinda Obunaka, Jackline Makokha and Felista Chebet and Athens-based professional Violet Barasa who recently signed for top division side Panellinio.

Key attacker Dorcas Ndasaba has also been included in the team.

Double IOIG gold medallists Seychelles play Nigeria in the second match today and they cannot put a foot wrong if they are to remain in the running for the continent's sole qualifying ticket for the Athens Olympics.

The Seychellois ladies, who said before leaving that they were ready to stand up to their opponents in their quest to reach the Olympic Games for the first time in the country's history, have to put the 0-3 (23-25 19-25 21-25) defeat to Nigeria in group A of last year's Eighth All-Africa Games in Abuja, behind them this afternoon.

The Nigerians, it is to note, are the gold medallists of last year's All-Africa Games with a win in the final over Egypt in their homeland.

Seychelles' last match is on Saturday against last year's African Nations' Cup winners Egypt who played Nigeria in Thursday's other encounter.

G. G.