Former champions hope to have memorable championship

Kwanthanze girls’ volleyball players celebrate during a match in the 2015 East Africa Games. [Elizabeth Mburugu, Standard]

Former champions Kwanthanze return to the regional scene this year hopeful of salvaging their Brookside East Africa Secondary Schools girls’ volleyball title.

The fallen queens will be out to reclaim their lost glory when the games begin in Gulu, Uganda, tomorrow.

Kwanthanze, who lost their East Africa crown to GS Indagaburezi of Rwanda in 2015, return to the East African scene after a one-year absence.

After losing their regional gong to the Rwandans and settled for silver, things went from bad to worse for the two-time East Africa winners when they failed to qualify for last year’s games in Eldoret.

Their 2-3 loss to Soweto Academy in the now defunct Metropolitan Region was their most painful result as it cut short their trip to the East African games.

Soweto also denied them a chance to recapture the national title they lost in the same year to AIC Kosirai.

However, they came back stronger this year and repossessed the national title and are now praying that the gods of volleyball will be on their side as they seek to complete a double.

Kwanthanze head coach Justine Kigwari said even though they had the national title, they knew that recapturing the East African trophy would be a tall order.

“We were missing in action last year and, as has been the norm, the standards of these games keep improving with every championship. We know this year will not be any different,” Kigwari said.

 

One match

He added that their strategy was to take one match at a time and also follow their opponents’ games for a sense of what to expect.

He said Rwanda and hosts Uganda posed threats to the Kenyan teams.

Kwanthanze are in Group A, where they are expected to renew their rivalry with old foes GS Indagaburezi, hosts St Brigit’s, Kinawa Secondary School and South Sudan’s Rumbek Girls School.

Last year’s regional silver medallists Soweto are in Group B with their compatriots Cheptil, who return to the regional scene after a long absence.

Others in the group are Uganda’s Trust High and Namugongo, and regulars St Aloys of Rwanda.

The Kenyans will be out to ensure that they qualify for the final and focus on winning the title, now that defending champions Kosirai did not qualify for the games.

Cheptil ended Kosirai’s campaign at the regional level after snatching the Rift Valley Region title.