Malkia Strikers trounce Uganda: Winning debut for Kenya’s quartet

Malkia Strikers players celebrate after winning a point against Uganda during their openinig match of the 2017 CAVB Zone V World Championship Qualifiers at Kasarani Gymnasiun on Friday, July 28, 2017. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Win helped home team begin their CAVB Zone V World Championship qualifiers title defense on a good note

National women’s volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, began their CAVB Zone V World Championship qualifiers title defence with a convincing 3-0 (25-12,25-15,25-12) victory over Uganda, at Kasarani Gymnasium, yesterday.

The nine-time African champions were in a class of their own in a match that saw the youthful quartet of Celestine Nyongesa, Immaculate Chemutai, Ann Lowem and Leonida Kasaya make their senior team debuts.

The victory puts the Mercy Moim-inspired side in pole position to secure one of the ticket to the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, where the top two teams in the final qualifying round will represent the continent at the 2018 FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championships in Japan.

“I was particularly impressed with the four youngsters’ performance. That clearly shows our future is bright,” said Malkia Strikers head coach Japheth Munala.

On her debut performance, Prisons Middle blocker Ann Lowem said: “It was not easy, but I feel great to have made a winning debut. The job now is to work extra hard and cement my place in the team.”

Malkia Strikers take on Rwanda in their next match today at 5pm before winding up the tournament with tomorrow’s crunch tie against perennial rivals at the same time.

Meanwhile, Kenya Volleyball Federation Vice Chairman Martin Makokha has accused the government of neglecting all the three national teams -Malkia Strikers, men’s team and U23 women’s team.

According to the official, they have not received any funding from the Ministry of Sports and Culture to help them prepare the teams adequately for the their international assignments.

Malkia Strikers are currently participating in the CAVB Zone V World Championship that served off at Kasarani yesterday, while their men’s counterpart clinched the same version of the tournament in Rwanda on Tuesday.

The junior team is preparing for the World Championships to be held in September in Slovenia.

“We have had a financial problem in preparing these teams. We have been left on our own as if these teams are not from Kenya. We have no support at all from the government. We are not a forgotten lot as such, but I think we have just been ignored by those concerned,” Makokha told The Standard Sports.

“Like right now, we owe Kasarani over Sh 6M in debts. Even for the women’s competition to serve off yesterday, we had to pay Sh 50,000 to the facility management."