Munala welcomes Italian coach as Malkia intensify training

Malkia Strikers head coach Japheth Munala termed the arrival of Italian coach Shailene Ramdoo as a big shot in the arm to the national women volleyball team ahead of the Africa Zone Five All African Games Qualifiers set to start on May 18 to 24 at the Lugogo Indoor Arena, Uganda.

The Italian coach, who was seconded to Kenya by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), arrived in the country on Saturday for a three-month deal and Munala says with volleyball evolving scientifically, the tactician will be of big help to ease the gap as Kenya hunt the Zone Five sole ticket to the August championship set for Morocco.

Ramdoo joined the technical bench for training sessions on Monday morning at the Kasarani Indoor Arena as the 20-member squad intensified their training for the second week.

The 52-year-old coach is a certified international volleyball trainer with an FIVB Level 2 and 3-course certificate, alongside a UK National Sports Coaching badge among his qualifications.

The Italian arrives at a time Kenya’s standards are appearing to have stagnated, with Cameroon, who are on an upward trajectory across all categories having denied Kenyans either qualification tickets or titles in the recent past. Traditionally Kenya has received competition from North African teams.

“He will bolster our technical bench and help our team especially in basics bit which has been hurting our volleyball for a long time. He will be handling the team from now but we will also help him and our main target is to qualify to the All African Games and also Olympics,” he toldCitizen Digital.

Kenya, who are the All African Games defending champions, will line up against hosts Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Egypt with the winner of the week-long event bagging the rights to represent Zone Five region in the August championship.

At the same time, the Italian coach will also be relied upon to guide Malkia Strikers back to Olympics Games set for Tokyo, Japan next year after a 15-year drought. The team last played in the Olympics in 2004 finishing at 11th position, similar to the previous and first outing in 2000.

Kenya will face World Championships runners up Italy then Netherlands and Belgium in the qualifiers, which will be played in Italy from August 2-4.