Brackcides and 'Gau' to punch above their weight

They may be carrying the underdog tag to the Tokyo Olympic Games, but Kenya’s women beach volleyball duo is ready for the challenge.

The Kenyan girls are grouped in Pool D together with the Brazilian duo of Ana Patricia/Rebecca, USA’s Clases/Sponcil and Latvia’s team of Kravcenoka/Graudina.

According to the fixture, Kenya will play their first match against Brazil on July 26 before clashing with the US pair on July 29.

The Kenyans will wrap up their group stage assignment with a match against Latvia on July 31.

Team captain Gaudencia Makokha said they watched their opponents last weekend during the FIVB Beach World Tour Four Star tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland and are confident of posting impressive results in Tokyo.

“We have watched our opponents and we can upset them. We know we are the underdogs but we can surprise them,” said the captain in an interview.

Team Manager Mbuthia said he was optimistic the girls will give their best show in Tokyo.

“These girls did a good job at the African qualifiers and all eyes are on them to extend the excellent performance in Tokyo,” said Mbuthia.

The team ended its training session yesterday in Mombasa and flew to Nairobi for their final Covid-19 tests.

They jet out on Saturday to Tokyo for the Olympic Games that start next week on Friday.

Team head coach Sammy Mulinge said the team had planned to train until Saturday in Mombasa as their earlier initial travelling plan was to leave the country on July 21.