体坛英语新闻：Paul Bitok to step down as Rwanda volleyball coach

NAIROBI, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Former Kenyan international volleyball player Paul Bitok says he will step down at the end of his 10-year tenure as Rwanda's head coach in June.

The 45-year-old has been credited for assisting the development of volleyball in the east African country since his appointment in 2010.

However, he said on Monday that his tenure will end in June as he has not received an offer of a contract extension.

"It's an end of a 10-year era in Rwanda. I thank God for giving me strength, health, a good working environment and good leaders both in the Rwanda Volleyball Federation and the Ministry of Sports and Culture," said Bitok on Monday.

Bitok was coy on his next move, saying he will take some time out before making a decision.

"More details on my next move will be revealed in the next few months. I will make everything public in a few weeks," said Bitok.

The Kenyan international will return home with the hope of being appointed to lead Kenya's national volleyball team, which is preparing for the Intercontinental Olympic qualifying tournament in August.

Kenya will face Italy, who finished second at the World Championships, the Netherlands and Belgium in the qualifiers, which will be played in Italy from August 2 to 4.

Bitok, 45, was appointed head coach of Rwanda men's national volleyball team in 2010, but he has also handled other age-group teams at different levels in regional and international competitions.

His latest top performance saw him lead Rwanda's beach volleyball to qualify for the FIVB Beach volleyball world championships, which runs from June 28 to July 7 in Hamburg, Germany.

Rwanda finished second in the men's and third in the women's category. The tiny east African state is the only African country out of six that will have two men's and women's teams in the competition.

"I am proud of my players because Rwanda is the only country that qualified two teams for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship 2019," said Bitok. "I'm proud of my two teams for making history in Rwanda."

Bitok also reinvigorated Rwanda senior men's and women's teams to finish fourth at the 2011 (Mozambique) and 2015 (Congo Brazzaville) Africa Games.

"Congratulations to the beach volleyball teams for concluding my long journey in Rwanda with silver and bronze medals in the 2019 African championships and FIVB Beach Volleyball world championships qualifiers. There is big history to tell and share with others," said Bitok.