Moment of truth for Kenyan volleyballers in Olympics

The national women’s volleyball team, “Malkia Strikers”, face a daunting task when they play two-time Olympic champions Brazil in their opening Group ‘B’ match of 2024 Olympic Games Monday.

Malkia Strikers will be hoping to not only register their maiden set against the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic champions, but also victory in the 2pm (Kenyan Time) duel at the South Paris Arena.

Malkia Strikers and the Canarinhas have met seven times,  with the African champions falling to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games silver medallists on all occasions without snatching any set.

Two of the meetings were at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, while the other five meetings were at the FIVB Women’s World Championships between 2007 and 2019.

Ten-time African champions Kenya will meet Poland on Wednesday at 10pm, before wrapping their campaign in the preliminary round against Japan, the 1964 Tokyo and 1976 Munich Olympic gold medallists, on August 3 in their Pool “B” schedule.

In a change of format compared to the previous nine editions of the Olympic Games, this tournament will feature three groups with four teams each during the preliminary round. Between 1972 Summer Olympics to 2020 Summer Olympics, the teams were placed in two groups.

At this round, the teams will compete in a single round-robin format. The two highest ranked teams from the three pools and the best two third-placed teams advanced to the quarter-finals.

This is the fourth time Malkia Strikers are participating in the Olympics having finished 12th in 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens, and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Malkia Strikers skipper, Triza Atuka, who is making her debut at the Olympics, having missed out on Tokyo 2020 due to an injury, is confident her charges will put up a better performance compared to the previous editions.

“Of course, we are in a tough pool, but we've had good preparations and we are ready to go,” said Atuka, adding that it will be emotional for her and the team to live their dream when they walk on that court.

“I pray that we have a great performance and come out with better results,” explained the Kenya Pipeline middle blocker.

Atuka, 32, said she feels great to be making her debut at the Olympics and is honoured to be captaining the side.

“It’s more than I would’ve asked for. It is satisfying, having worked so hard after I missed out in the last Olympics in Tokyo due to a threatening injury,” said Atuka, disclosing that she almost lost hope after the injury.

“That’s not how I wanted my career to end so I still had to push myself for my Olympics dream,” said Atuka.

Among the players making a return from the Tokyo 2020 squad are Sharon Chepchumba, Edith Wisa, Leonida Kasaya, Agripina Kundu, and Lorine Chebet. The team is coached by the experienced Japheth Munala.