The second round of African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) Beach Continental Cup took place last month.

Pool C of the women’s event was held in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on March 7, with five teams expected to participate.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Cape Verde and Kenya all withdraw from the event due to the coronavirus outbreak, leaving Nigeria and Zambia to qualify automatically for the final round of the Beach Continental Cup.

Five teams were also due to contest Pool C of the men’s competition at Banjul in The Gambia on March 14, but only the host nation and South Sudan participated.

Both teams advanced as a result, after Botswana, Kenya and Mauritius withdrew from the tournament.

Kenya's Government had imposed an international travel ban last month for athletes from the nation due to coronavirus.

The shutdown meant the women's beach volleyball team were forced to pull out of their Olympic qualifier in Nigeria.

Kenyan duo Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Agala said their Olympic dreams had been "shattered" following the decision.

The CAVB announced on March 17 that it had agreed to stop and postpone all upcoming events and activities, citing international travel limitations and restrictions.

This included upcoming Continental Cup events.

Kenya’s women’s beach volleyball coach Sammy Mulinge has called for the African Volleyball Federation to apply this standard to the previous events held in March, ensuring teams have a fair playing field to pursue an Olympic place.

An Olympic berth will be awarded to the eventual winners of the CAVB Beach Continental Cup under the existing qualification criteria.

"All the teams were well prepared and it will be unfair for the continental body to maintain its earlier stand on the qualifiers," Mulinge told Kenyan newspaper The Standard.

"Other bodies have nullified most of the qualifiers for fair treatment and beach volleyball should not be exceptional.

"It was not our wish not to travel for the qualifiers and CAVB must consider this.

"I hope the body will ensure that there is a level playing field for all the nations that had qualified for the second round."

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) told insidethegames the governing body had yet to receive any complaints regarding the Pool C matches taking place, but were seeking clarity from the CAVB.

“The FIVB is in close collaboration with all Continental Confederations, National Federations and FIVB Athletes' Commission, to ensure that the revised qualification system for Tokyo 2020 is as fair as possible for all beach volleyball players," the FIVB said.

The FIVB has not received any communication or complaints from the CAVB or Kenyan Volleyball Federation regarding the Pool C matches of the second round of the CAVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup that took place at the beginning of March 2020.

 The FIVB is seeking clarity from the CAVB and is not in a position to comment further until we have received further information.”

The FIVB announced last month that is was in contact with the International Olympic Committee over revising the beach volleyball qualification system for Tokyo 2020.

The governing body also said due to the nature of the events calendar, it was assessing the status of events on a case-by-case basis.

The FIVB said this would involve working in close collaboration with the respective event organisers and national authorities.

Both the men’s and women’s beach volleyball tournaments at Tokyo 2020 will feature 24 teams, with 15 qualifying through the volleyball Olympic rankings under the existing system.

Five places will be awarded to the winners of the continental qualifiers, while hosts Japan are assured of a place.

Russia and Canada have earned places in the men’s and women’s tournaments respectively, after their teams secured world titles last year.

Latvia are assured of places in both events after success at the FIVB Olympic qualification tournament last year.

Italy qualified for the men’s event through the tournament, while Spain advanced to the women’s Olympic tournament.