Out of the two representatives in Japan for the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Women's World Championship, neither Cameroon, African champions nor Kenya, runners-up were able to manage two wins from five games to progress to the second round.

It was a similar fate suffered by the continent's outfits at the Men's World Championships in Italy-Bulgaria, where Cameroon, Egypt and Tunisia all went out in the opening stage of the competition.

Tough it started well for both teams in their first matches of the tournament. The Indomitables Lionesses of Cameroon with skipper Christelle Nana Tchoudjang beat Mexico 3 sets to 1, while star-player Jane Wacu and the Malkia Strikers of Kenya emerged winner over the last ranked team at the 2018 Asian Women's Volleyball Cup   Kazakhstan 3 sets to 0.

Then the Africa's contingents needed just one victory again to secure at least the 4th place out of the six teams in each of their group, synonym of second round progress.

It was rather to be four consecutives 0 set to 3 defeats for both nations, leaving Africa without a representative in the next round.

Germany, Netherlands current European vice-champion, Japan winner of the 2017 Asian Women's Volleyball Championships and Argentina 4th at the last South American Championships all got the best of Cameroon in Group A, leaving Coach Jean René Akono and his girls to a 6th and last place finish.

Japheth Munala and his Kenyan side ended on a the 5th place in Group D, where they could not get pass the adversities of European Champion and 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalists Serbia, 2014 FIVB Women's World Championships bronze medalists Brazil, 2nd-placed team at the 2018 Copa Panamericana Dominincan Republic, and Puerto Rico.

In the general classification of the first round of the tournament, Kenya ended at the 20th spot while Cameroon occupied the 21st place out of the 24 teams present in Japan.

The competition plaeyd over six cities; Yokohama, Sapporo, Kobe, Hamamatsu, Osaka and Nagoya started on September 29 and will run until October 20.

Like, Follow us on Facebook and Twitter