Waithaka Kioni seeks another term at CAVB

Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) chairman Waithaka Kioni will seek another term as one of the five vice presidents at African Volleyball Confederation, better known by its French acronym CAVB.

CAVB will hold its rescheduled elections between September 27 and October 27, in South Africa.

CAVB’s elective congress that is held after four years had been scheduled for June 15 and 16, but it was later postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Kioni, who is also the deputy president of the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K), confirmed the development, saying national federations across the continent have consulted widely and settled on the new date for the elections.

“Consultations are still ongoing even as coronavirus pandemic continues to bite, and our hope is that it will be curbed soon so that normalcy returns. Whatever the case, the five confederations in the world must hold their individual congresses three to four months prior to the International Volleyball Federation Board (better known by its French acronym FIVB) elections,” said Kioni, who is also Team Kenya’s head of delegation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games which have been postponed to next year due to Covid-19 disease.

“If the coronavirus pandemic shall not have been contained by then, the elective congress shall be postponed again,” Waithaka told Nation Sport.

The positions to be contested during the CAVB elections are that of the president, first vice-president, five vice-presidents, two positions for gender minority, and zone presidents.

BOARD MEMBERS

FIVB board members will also be elected (with a mandate running from 2020-2024).

The five-member confederations of FIVB are CAVB, European Volleyball Confederation (CEV), Asian Confederation AVC), North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation (NORCECA), and South American Confederation (CSV).

CAVB (Confédération Africaine de Volleyball) is the continental governing body for the sport of volleyball in Africa. Its headquarters are located in Cairo, Egypt. It was established in 1972.

The 37th FIVB World Congress was originally scheduled to take place from October 15-17 in Phuket, Thailand but has since been moved to January 27-29 next year at the same venue due to the coronavirus pandemic.

On Friday, Kioni also confirmed that KVF remained committed to aligning its leagues and competitions with the FIVB calendar. According to FIVB calendar, federations should start their leagues in October and end in April.

“Before the coronavirus pandemic, we had begun the normal season so that we finish in July and to conform to the FIVB calendar. Luckily for us, we had only played one leg and few teams turned up for the event and so anything can happen but we will have to wait and see how things play out,” the veteran sports administrator noted.

The KVF National League served off in February at Ruring’u Stadium in Nyeri.

Only five men's teams out of 12, and three women’s clubs out seven honoured their league matches.

Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and Kenya Prisons competed in the women’s category.

Kenya Prisons, Equity Bank, Administration Police, Kenya Forest Service, and Prisons Rift Valley honoured their matches in the men’s competition.

International Volleyball Federation, better known by its French acronym FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball), is the international governing body for all forms of volleyball.

Its headquarters are located in Lausanne, Switzerland and its current president is Brazilian Ary Graça.