Malkia Strikers back in camp ahead of World Cup

The national women’s volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, has resumed camp ahead of the upcoming FIVB World Cup slated for September 14-29 in Japan.

They began their residential training at the Kasarani Indoor Arena on Thursday barely a week after clinching their fifth African Games following their pulsating 3-1 victory over Cameroon in the final in Morocco.

Ahead of the tournament that will be held in the cities of Hamamatsu and Yokohama, head coach Paul Bitok has bolstered his team by calling up two more players –  the youthful Kenya Commercial Bank centre Lorine Chebet and Kenya Prisons libero Elizabeth Wanyama.

In Japan, Kenya, United States, Argentina, Netherlands, Serbia and Brazil will play their matches in Hamamatsu while hosts Japan, Cameroon, Russia, South Korea and the Dominican Republic will be based in Yokohama.

Malkia Strikers will open their campaign on the September 14 against United States in Hamamatsu, Japan.

In the previous edition, also held in Japan in 2015, the East African queens finished 10th out of 13 teams and Bitok who made his mark in his first outing with the nine-time Africa champions will be eyeing the elusive global title.

“We will try our best to win World Cup but we must admit it will be not a walk in the park because we are facing top ranked teams in the world. However, it is a good platform for our players to gain exposure and experience ahead of Olympic qualifiers,” Bitok said.

Malkia Strikers under David Lung’aho the current technical director in 2015 won only two matches, against Algeria (3-0) and Peru (3-1).

Kenya’s contingent departs on September 11 to Japan, three days before the action serves off.

After the Japan outing, Bitok is expected to train his guns ahead of the African teams qualifiers for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in January next year. Kenya has not qualified for the Olympic Games since 2004.