Volleyball: All set for Paul Bitok tournament

The inaugural Paul Bitok National Volleyball Tournament will now be staged at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani indoor arena and Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium in Nairobi next weekend.

The event had been set for April 7-9 at the Kiminini Primary School grounds in Bungoma County, but that has changed due to the heavy rains being experienced in the western part of the country and a request from national league clubs.

Speaking Tuesday during the launch of the first edition at the KCB Sports Club in Nairobi, Bitok said,” As we are aware, clubs will be participating in the African Clubs Championship in Tunisia in May and therefore requested the event to be moved to the indoor facility to allow players adjust to the indoor facility and maintain the momentum."

Kenya Pipeline and KCB Womens Volleyball Team are expected to compete in the May 13-22 championship by virtue of having finished in the top two positions during the KVF National League play-offs early this year, while General Service Unit and Kenya Ports Authority will carry the Kenyan flag in the men’s version set for May 9-22.

Bitok, who is also the national women’s team coach, said the draws for the event will be held next Wednesday at 2pm at KCB Sports Club.

“We expect 16 men’s and eight women’s clubs that participate in the league to compete in the event. The deadline for the registration is this Friday at 4pm. We want the tournament to run professionally and that’s why we will not entertain late registrations ,” added Bitok, who is also the KCB Women’s Team Technical Director.

The launch was also attended by KVF Deputy Chairman Charles Nyaberi, Treasurer Kenneth Tanui, Nairobi Branch chairman Moses Mbuthia, KCB Team Manager Moses Kimani, Equity Bank Team Manager Nicolas Bitok and former international Benard Musumba.

Nyaberi said the event has the support from the national office before he also took the chance to apologise to the people of Kiminini for the venue change.

“We can’t take away the fact that western part of this country is the hotbed of talent and we hope to have more events in that region just as a way of appreciation. It is also unfortunate that we won’t have special categories, Universities and Schools categories due to crush schedule, but we look forward to have them in the second edition,” said Nyaberi.

The winners of the event in both gender will pocket Sh100,000, while the runners up will take home Sh50,000.

Nairobi Sports Club, Cocacola, KCB Bank, Kenya Pipeline, Yokora, CAAN Feel Alive and Event Marketing Solution are the sponsors of the event.