Tough task ahead for Olympic bound beach babes

Kenya Women's Beach Volleyball team are up against tough opposition in United States (USA), Brazil and Latvia when they make their debut at the Olympics Games from July 23 in Tokyo. 

The draw conducted on Monday, 5 July evening in Moscow, Russia saw a total of twenty-four teams pooled into six groups of four teams, with Kenyan landing group D that has bronze medalists US. 

The duo of Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Agala will be travelling to Tokyo for the competition as, unlike the African qualifiers where the competition rules allowed two pair, the IOC only allows a country to field two players. 

Makokha, Agala, Yvonne Wavinya and Phoscah Kasisi won Africa's sole ticket to the Olympics during the CAVB Continental Cup cum Olympic qualifiers in Morocco and are currently in Mombasa in preparation for the Summer Games.  

"Needless to say, we are less experienced than the opposition we face in Tokyo. It is a tricky group we are in and being new on this stage and having not played any of the teams, videos will assist us to train and plan accordingly. We do not want to put our expectations too high, but we will be there to give our best and learn as much as we can,"

"Pairs of the countries keep on changing with every event, but if we look at the countries performances, USA finished third during the Rio Olympics and are ranked second as per FIVB rankings. Brazil are third, while Latvia are in position seventeen and therefore it's tough pool,"  said Mulinge.

After hitting camp on Sunday, the tactician has embarked on working on the team's service technique which he says proved a winner for them in Morocco. 

"Our biggest weapon in the wins away in Morocco was good service so we are working on perfecting a strategy for the same. All the same, we cannot forget to cover our bases when it comes to the basics especially movement on sand, " he added. 

Brazil, USA, China, Germany and Netherlands earned two berths each thanks to their 2016 Olympics rankings and their 2019 FIVB Olympic qualification.

Rio 2016 champions Canada top pool 'A' and are joined by runners up Germany, Switzerland and Netherlands.