Malkia Strikers land in tough group for the FIVB World Championships

Kenya Women’s Volleyball National Team, Malkia Strikers have landed in a tough pool for the 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championships set to be hosted jointly by Netherlands and Poland starting September 23 to October 15.

Kenya was placed in Pool A alongside arch-rivals Cameroon, hosts the Netherlands, European champions Italy, Belgium, and Puerto Rico during a virtual draw ceremony held at FIVB headquarters in Switzerland on Thursday evening.

Kenya is the lowest-ranked team at position 27 of the six in Pool A according to FIVB Senior World Ranking - Women, and will be out to stage upsets at the global stage, with Italy and Netherlands being in the top ten as Belgium, Puerto Rico, and Cameroon occupy the 13th, 17th, and 20th positions respectively.

This will be the seventh time that Malkia strikers will be making an appearance at the Championship, and will be hoping to record their second win at the championship having picked a historic win during the 2018 edition in Japan as they saw off Kazakhstan by straight sets.

Malkia Strikers will be seeking to avenge the recent double defeat to Cameroon during the African Nations Championship in September last year, going down in the group stage as well as in the final as Cameroon won 3-1 to defend their title.

Having finished first and second in Kigali during the continental showpiece, the reigning champions Cameroon and Kenya will be representing the continent by virtue of being finalists in the African Nations Championship which doubled up as qualifiers for the World Championship.

Defending champions Serbia are in Pool C alongside Olympic champions USA, Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, and Kazakhstan.

DRAW

Pool A: Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Puerto Rico, Cameroon, Kenya

Pool B: Poland, Turkey, Dominican Republic, Korea, Thailand, Croatia

Pool C: USA, Serbia, Germany, Bulgaria, Canada, Kazakhstan

Pool D: Brazil, China, Japan, Colombia, Argentina, Czech Republic