TOKYO 2020: Beach volleyball pair draw positives from Tokyo

Kenya Women Beach Volleyball pair of Gaudencia Makokha and Bracksides Agala have drawn positives from their Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games outing despite bowing out of the competition without recording a single win, set or match.

Kenya was making its maiden appearance at the competition having qualified after beating Nigeria in the Continental Cup-cum Olympic qualifier that took place in Morocco in June.

Captaining the team, Makokha said that she did think that their opponents were not as strong as people would think but had the advantage with their experience in the game, something that lacked in the Kenyan team.

"Our opponents were not that strong. The difference between us and them is that they have the experience and we do not. I think we have a strong service than them but they beat us at those small things. When we get home, we shall try to grace as many tournaments as we can to gain the experience because that is all that beach volleyball needs. without experience it becomes a problem," Makokha said.

Her partner, Agala, echoed the same sentiments, saying that they learnt so much from the outing and adding that she hoped that the management saw that the sport needs a lot of training and experience.

She went ahead to issue a plea to those concerned to ensure that they secure as many chances for the team to play in tournaments in an attempt to add to their experience and exposure.

"The competition has been good, we have learnt so much. I hope even the management has seen that beach volleyball requires a lot of training and experience, therefore the more tournaments they take us to the more experience we will have and the more our we will get better. But if we only receive calls when it is time to play, they should not expect that we will improve. SO we have to train and go for tournaments," Agala said.

Kenya bowed out of the competition without winning a single set, losing on straight sets despite putting up spirited fights in their respective games against Brazil, USA, and Latvia.