Our levels remain top but poor preps hurt us, defiant Munala says

The national women volleyball team head coach Japheth Munala has scoffed at claims that the quality of Kenya’s volleyball is on the downward spiral in the continent, with Cameroon the newfound Kenya’s opponent.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Munala attributed the poor performance from the Junior Malkia Strikers in the recently concluded African Nations Championship to poor preparations and lack of luck adding that Kenya is “far much better than Cameroon”.

The West African team bundled the Junior Malkia Strikers out of the tourney at the preliminaries and were also a pain in Kenya’s neck last year in the senior competition where the former edged Kenya in straight sets to clinch the fifth continental gong.

“Kenya will remain a force to reckon with as far as volleyball is concerned. We did not prepare well for the junior championship because most of the players came direct from East Africa School games. Yes, last year Cameroon beat us but they were hosts. We are far much better than them,” charged Munala.

Following the woeful performance from the Junior Strikers,  fans opine that the results against Cameroon should raise alarm bells. Kenya has traditionally received the strongest challenge from the North Africa teams,  but going by last week’s show, Kenya could seemingly have more battle frontiers.

Meanwhile, Malkia Strikers resumed their training on Thursday ahead of the forthcoming World Championship set for Japan from September 29 -October 20.The team broke camp last week to pave way for the African Championship which took place at the Kasarani Indoor Arena.

Speaking ahead of the final preparations for the global fiesta, Munala remained upbeat his charges will be in top form before they jet out for Japan on September 18.

“I think we are on the right track as far as preparations are concerned. We are working on our weaknesses and by the time we will be leaving for the championship all will be set,”  Munala told Citizen Digital.

The Kenyan queens are paired alongside world-beaters Serbia and Brazil as well as Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Kazakhstan in Pool D.

The nine-time African champions will launch their  quest for the title against Kazakhstan on September 29 before confronting Serbia a day later, and subsequently face Puerto Rico, champions Brazil and Dominican Republic in other preliminary matches.

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Malkia Strikers Japheth Munala Cameroon Junior Malkia Strikers volleyball levels

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