Malkia Strikers head coach Bitok calls on experienced and young players for global event

Malkia strikers coach Paul Bitok in Mombasa County on Friday 4th March 2022. Bitok is eying managerial position at the Kenya Volleyball Federation. [Kelvin Karani, Standard]

Malkia Strikers head coach Paul Bitok has blended young talent into a squad of experienced players as the team head to Serbia today for more build-up matches in readiness for next week's World Championships in Netherlands and Poland.

The team will have a stopover in Belgrade, Serbia for two friendly matches on Friday and Monday before flying to Netherlands next Tuesday for the championships that runs from September 24 to October 15.

Kenya will open with a match against the hosts Netherlands.

Bitok said he opted to have youngsters in the team who were quick to learn and have improved a lot as there is more room for them to improve further.

"The atmosphere has been good for the past two and half months we have been training in Brazil and I am encouraged with what the young players have managed to achieve in such a short space of time," Bitok said after naming his traveling squad of 14 players.

"We shall be represented by young and senior players and for the first time we will be having more than five new players in the team playing at the World Championship," said the coach as he named Veronica Adhiambo, Veronica Kilabat, Emmaculate Nekesa, Magdalene Sande and Belinda Barasa as the new call-ups who have made it to the final squad.

Yvonne Wavinya who has shown tremendous improvement has been considered as the second libero where she will assist Agripina Kundu which, Bitok said will be crucial on the team's weakness in reception.

Gaming company Mozzart Bet has unveiled a new uniform for the Malkia Strikers that they will don during the world volleyball Championships that starts next week in Netherlands and and Poland. The batting company has sponsored the national team to a tune of Sh 10 million. - by Robert Menza

"Though she is a left attacker, coaches saw it important to use her experience both in beach volleyball and indoor to help in our reception," added Bitok saying that their target is to proceed to the second round as they eye to beat Cameroon and Puerto Rico.

He said the selection of the squad was done based on merit and a lot of other considerations which included, personal skills, position competition, statistics from both training sessions, friendly matches and the team player among others.

"I will fight hard for my team as we are physically and mentally prepared for the task ahead," Nekesa said in an interview from Brazil.

Former Brazilian junior national team coach Luizomar de Moura who is with the Kenyan team said he has confidence in the team.

"The team has greatly improved and is now better than we were last time. This is after the intensive training and facilities we have been using in Osasco Volleyball Club, Brazil," Moura said.