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Kenya women’s volleyball team captain Mercy Moim believes the team has gained ground as they broke from residential camp at the Moi International Sports Centre Indoor Arena, Kasarani on Monday ahead of next month’s Olympic qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The team is scheduled to resume training on Thursday ahead of their departure to Cameroon on January 2.
Moim told Nation Sport that they have adapted to the system of play and all the departments are working in unison.
“The best part of it all is that the team was assembled immediately after the play-offs and therefore it was a matter of gelling of which we have done. The training has been good with remarkable improvement and the young players have shown a lot of growth and are willing to learn which is a good thing,” said the veteran Kenya Prisons attacker.
“It’s good we have been given time to go unwind and I believe when we return it will be all systems go ahead of the event.”
Moim said their focus for now is to win the first match against Egypt and plan from there.
The Cheptil Girls High School alumnus said the first match dictates how the performance of the team will be going forward and therefore they will be out to start on a high note.
“They (Egypt) have been under the radar for a while now and we don’t have a clue of what to expect from them but we intend to watch some of their recent videos and see how it pans out,” Moim said of the north Africans, who have not featured in any championship after hosting the Africa Cup of Nations in July.
Kenya will battle arch-rivals Egypt, whom they last faced in 2017 during the Cup of Nations in Cameroon, on January 5 in their first match of the event before they play Botswana the next day.
Malkia Strikers will then renew their hostilities with Cameroon on January 7.
Kenya, who last played in the Olympic in 2004 in Athens, will rest on January 8 before they wrap up the four-nation tournament with a tie against Nigeria on January 9.
The overall winner of the five-day event will represent the continent during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics between July 24 to August 9.
Cameroon represented Africa in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
