Coach Bitok says Malkia Strikers need to work on ball reception

Malkia Strikers attackers Mercy Moim and Veronica Adhiambo celebrate a point against Puerto Rico at the World Championships action in Netherlands on October 1, 2022. [Courtesy]

Malkia Strikers coach Paul Bitok has said his girls need to improve in certain areas of the game and singled out poor reception as his most worry as the team gears for the Africa Cup of Nations that serves off on Tuesday in Yaounde, Cameroon.

“We are working out on correcting the mistakes we identified during the Challenger Cup in France a fortnight ago,” said the coach in an interview from Yaounde.

“We are pushing ourselves to make best play while minimising errors once we hit the net on Tuesday.

“We are ready for the 10th cup.  We are  doing corrections on our mistakes, team systems, coordination, speed and our main problem reception,” Bitok said.

He said the stakes were high as they will be fighting for the sole African ticket for next year’s Olympic games in Paris, France.

Malkia Strikers who had a two-week training in Morocco will battle for the top honours alongside their rivals Cameroon, Egypt and Tunisia.

Other teams in the continental showpiece are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo DRC, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria,  Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

Senegal and Tanzania have withdrawn their participation.

All the participating teams are expected to report on Sunday ahead of the Monday draw and pooling.

“We shall start the tournament as top seeds as we have 124 points against Cameroon’s 122. I believe my team is much stronger than before and we are ready to face our opponents,” Bitok said.

Despite Kenya beating Cameroon five times in World Cup, World Championship and Olympics qualifiers, the coach said the Kenyan girls have failed to make a mark in three Africa Cup of Nations the last being in 2021 in Rwanda.

“We have top players led by two professional players Sharon Chepchumba and Veronica Olouch alongside other experienced and new players,” said the former international player.

Malkia Strikers will be hoping to win the tournament and book a ticket to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris after playing at the 2020 Olympics.