African Games: Malkia Strikers out of title defense following loss to Egypt

National women's volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, will not defend their African Games title as they lost their semis match to Egypt at the ongoing Games to be relegated to the bronze playoff.

They say it's not over until it is and Malkia Strikers learned this the hard way, having to fight tooth and nail for an unsuccessful comeback, in a game they led 2-0 early to lose 3-2.

In a display of control and getting the basics right, Malkia Strikers had a good start, taking Egypt’s attack in stride to pick 25-23, 25-19 wins in the opening two sets to put themselves in perfect position to continue their unbeaten run.

The Pharaohs, however, took control of the match from the third set, dominating 25-17 to get themselves back into the game.

Japeth Munala’s charges had one job, to kill the game in the forth set and looked well on their way to seal the win, only to lose focus in the final moments allowing Egypt to go 26-24 and set the stage for a decider set that ended 15-13 in favour of the North Africans.

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This is the first time since 2011 that Kenya will miss the title, having won the last two (2019, 2015) and can only hope for bronze which would be a repeat of the 2003, 2007, and 2011 editions.

Coach Munala hopes to guide his charges to a third place and avoid a situation where Kenya misses out on the podium for the first time since 1978. The country has five titles from previous editions, one silver, and three bronze, leading the medal table with 9.