Bitok confident Malkia Strikers can make history at upcoming World Championship

Malkia Strikers head coach Paul Bitok has exuded confidence that the national women’s volleyball side can make history by qualifying for the second round of the upcoming 2022 FIVB Women’s World Championships set to be hosted jointly by Netherlands and Poland starting September 23 to October 15 this year.

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 back in March.

Malkia Strikers land in tough group for the FIVB World Championships

Despite Kenya being the lowest-ranked team at position 27 of the six in Pool A according to the latest women’s ranking, Bitok is positive the team can stage upsets at the global stage and make history, with Italy and Netherlands being in the top ten as Belgium, Puerto Rico, and Cameroon occupy the 13th, 17th, and 20th positions respectively.

“For the first time, Kenya have been put in a fair group having Cameroon and Puerto Rico. We played with Puerto Rico before in one of the World Championships and we lost 3-2 so they are of our standard. The other teams we have been ranked with – Netherlands and Belgium – are not ranked as high. So it is only a matter of preparation,”

“It is good that now we have different sponsors coming in to support the team. If we have more than three months of preparing, I believe Kenya will qualify for the first time for the second round,” Bitok told Mozzart Sport.

As part of preparations, Malkia Strikers are scheduled to go for a three month high intensity training camp in Brazil being sponsored by FIVB before organizing friendly games against sides such as Colombia and defending World Champions Serbia.

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.

In the Championships, 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.

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