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Malkia Strikers coach Paul Bitok is targeting an improved performance in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics Games.
Kenya were drawn in Pool “A” alongside hosts Japan, two-time Olympic gold medallists Brazil, European champions Serbia, Korea and Dominican Republic.
Pool “B” features China, USA, Russia, Italy, Argentina and Turkey.
The top two teams in each group will book a place in the semi-finals.
All of Kenya’s opponents in the 2020 Tokyo Games higher in the September/October 2019 FIVB World Rankings. Serbia (3), Brazil (4), Japan (7), South Korea (9) and Dominican Republic (10) while Kenya are placed at position 19.
Bitok is optimistic that with proper preparations, the African representatives will record a win and manage to score a set against the giants.
Bitok said they have faced their opponents before in various championships including in last year’s World Cup in Japan as well as Intercontinental Olympic qualifiers in Italy and although they faltered, they know what to expect.
“Serbia and Brazil are beyond us and we will not lie to ourselves that we can match up to them now. However, our set scores against Japan during the World Cup were promising and we hope to build on that. We are targeting a win against Dominican Republic and I believe we can pull surprise against them,” said Bitok, who was recently named Safaricom Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) Coach of the Year in Mombasa.
“I submitted the team’s training programme to the KVF. The federation was to pass the programme to the Ministry of Sports. My wish is for the team to start training in April at the Moi International Sports Centre Indoor Arena, Kasarani before we move our training to Europe and so we are waiting for the feedback.”
Kenya, who are making a return to the Summer Games after a 16-year hiatus, failed to record a win in their last participation in Athens in 2004. The East Africans failed to sparkle in the group that featured Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Greece.
The team was then under the stewardship of Abdul Kibet, David Lunga’ho - currently the Kenya Volleyball Federation(KVF) technical director and Kenya Prisons’ men coach - and Sammy Kirongo of Equity Bank men’s coach.
Kenya fell to Greece 3-0 (25-7, 25-22, 25-14) before they were downed by Brazil 3-0 (25-16, 29-27, 25-12). They then lost in straight sets of 25-16, 25-20,25-19 to South Korea before Italy handed them yet another 3-0 (25-17,25-13,25-14) loss. They wrapped up the event with a routine 3-0 (25-8, 25-17, 25-14) loss to Japan.
The Malkia Strikers qualified for the Olympics during the African qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon earlier this month. Kenya defeated Botswana, Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon to book the sole slot reserved for the continent.
Cameroon represented Africa during the 2016 Rio Olympics.
