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Malkia Strikers coach Shaileen Ramdoo admits his team will feel the absence of middle blocker Edith Wisa ahead of their FIVB Inter-continental Olympic qualification tournament Group ‘F’ opener against hosts Italy on Friday.
Wisa, a regular in Ramdoo’s first six at last month’s Africa Nations Championship in Egypt, did not travel with the team after she failed to secure her visa on time. Kenya Pipeline's Gladys Ekaru was picked as her replacement.
“I am bothered by her induced unfortunate absence. Edith is of the average player’s height and calibre required in this very high level competition. So we will miss a bit of height in the team compared to our opponents who all have tall players,” Ramdoo told Nation Sport on phone from their base in Catania.
“Life has to go on though, Ekaru is here to fill in her spot and I now have to turn to plan B as anticipated,” he added in mitigation.
Plan B will see the Italian tactician do a familiar reorganisation of his charges. Violet Makuto will move from her traditional opposite to middle blocker with either Sharon Chepchumba or Immaculate Chemtai starting at opposite.
“It has not overly affected my game plan. We will find solutions of course. Violet can play middle blocker while Chepchumba has two positions now, opposite and outside hitter. Chemtai is also there,” explained Ramdoo who was seconded to Kenya by world volleyball governing body, FIVB, in May.
Kenya will be seeking her first win against Italy who have beaten them in straight sets in their four previous meetings.
“Every team is playable. It’s a matter of working our own things first. Netherlands is on paper a bit better physically than Italy. So anything goes and winning games is on the card here for maximum experience for each member of my team as we continue with the transition,” offered Ramdoo, who will be taking charge of only his second assignment as head coach.
The matches will be played in a round robin format with the winner in each of the six qualifying groups punching their tickets to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Should Kenya fail to qualify in Catania, they will battle it out for the single slot reserved for African countries in the continental qualifiers slated for January next year.
Mercy Moim (captain), Noel Murambi, Janet Wanja, Sharon Chepchumba, Trizah Atuka, Violet Makuto, Aggripina Kundu (libero)
Belgium v Netherlands – 7.00pm
