By Oscar Pilipili
What started 13 years ago as a simple community volleyball tournament at Simat centre in Uasin Gishu County has transformed into a competition of international status.
The forthcoming Paul Bitok International tournament has again attracted foreign teams and its sponsorship has gone to the next level with Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) coming on board as main sponsors.
This year’s competition will be staged at Eldoret Polytechnic on June 30 to July 1.
Paul Bitok Foundation Communications Director and Local Organising Committee member Mike Bitok said that 55 teams have registered for the tournament.
He said Patriotic Army of Rwanda men lead foreign teams coming to the tournament. The rest are: Kampala Volleyball Club, Nemo Star and Kampala City Council who have registered both their men and women teams for the tournament.
Sports men’s team of Uganda has also shown interest in participating in the competition, which is organised by the Foundation.
More teams are expected from Tanzania and Burundi.
And as the tournament continue to attract more teams and so does the number of sponsors swell.
Besides KCB, the other supporters are: Amaco, Kass FM, Brazafric, Nairobi Sports House, Keino Marketing and Saroya Waters among others.
The director Bitok also confirmed that President of Croatia Volleyball Federation Zdeslav Barac and his Rwandese counterpart Philbert Mutwarasibo will grace the two-day extravaganza besides local officials.
Technical meeting is scheduled for June 29 at Asis Hotel starting 7pm.
