Pained at 2017 loss, Munala out to reclaim Africa title in Egypt

The national women’s volleyball team head coach Japheth Munala is harboring high hopes that Malkia Strikers will reclaim the African Volleyball Nations Championship which serves off on July 7 to 15 in Cairo, Egypt.

Pained at a missed tenth title in 2017 where Malkia Strikers fell 3-1 sets to hosts Cameroon, Munala who is working alongside Italian coach Shailene Ramdoo is aiming to right the wrongs at the most prestigious volleyball tournament in Africa.

The 19-woman squad -which is fine-tuning skills at the Kasarani Indoor Arena- has been handed a massive shot on the arm following the arrival of seasoned and award-winning setter Jane Wacu who plies her trade in Seychelles with Anse Royale.

“We are ready to wrestle the title from Cameroon and I think we will perform well in Egypt based on our good performance during All African Games qualifiers. Wacu arrived today (Friday) and it’s always good to have such a player in the team,” he told Citizen Digital.

In Uganda last month, the Kenyan queens clinched the All African Games Zone Five sole ticket after winning all their matches in the qualifiers organized in a round-robin format.

After Africa competition, Malkia is scheduled to fly out for Olympic Games qualifiers which will be played in Italy from August 2-4 where they are scheduled to face World Championships runners up Italy then Netherlands and Belgium.

The team will be eyeing to return to Olympics tourney set for Japan next year after a 15-year drought with their last outing dating back to 2004 where they finished at 11th position, similar to the previous and first outing in 2000.

Immediately after Italy assignment, Malkia will head to Morocco to defend their 2015 All African Games title.