Reception Malkia Strikers’ thorn ahead of African tourney

National women’s volleyball side Malkia Strikers are scheduled to leave France on Saturday 5 August for Cameroon where they are to feature in the 2023 Women’s African Nations Championship.

Assistant coach Paul Bitok says reception continues to be the side’s achilles heel even as they played for another 2-2 sets draw what was their final friendly match against Vietnam.

Malkia Strikers bundled out of Challenger Cup

Dates for the championship, initially set to be hosted from 6 August have been moved by a week and will now run from 14 to 25 August with 16-24 August set as the competition days in Yaounde.

“We will have about a week in Douala, Cameroon to acclimatize and continue with our training, polishing up areas that continue to trouble us, especially our reception. In the match against Vietnam we managed to correct a few mistakes but we are not there yet. The coach is on top of things and we believe we will a good competition. The target is to win the title in Cameroon,” Bitok told Mozzart Sport.

Malkia Strikers had been in Morocco for high performance training before heading to Naval, France for the FIVB Challenger Cup, eventually won by the hosts, where they fell to Colombia in the quarters 3-1.

“We are heading to Cameroon with 124.69 points while our toughest competitors in the hosts are ranking at 122.19. The loss against Colombia, who finished third, saw Kenya drop a few points and now the different is less than 2 points before the continental competition. The target is winning the title but more accumulating the points that are required for an African team to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024,” he concluded.

The Kenyan side is going for the African title they last won in 2015, with Cameroon denying them on three occasions since. A win for Malkia would give them the opportunity for back-to-back Olympics, having been in Tokyo in 2021.