TOKYO 2020: Kenya's Women Beach Volleyball team up against tough Brazil

Kenya Women's Beach Volleyball team is set to launch their Olympics Games campaign tomorrow morning at 6 at Shiokaze Park, Centre Court against a tough Brazillian team.

Kenya’s pair of Gaudencia Makokha and Bracksides Agala will take on Brazil’s Rebecca Cavalcanti and Ana Patricia Silva Ramos in their opening match on Monday morning.

They are pooled in group D alongside the USA, Brazil, and Latvia.

National team coach Sammy Mulinge knows the quality of opponents they will be up against but they are adamant to give a good showing.

"Pairs of the countries keep on changing with every event, but if we look at the countries performances, USA finished third during the Rio Olympics and are ranked second as per FIVB rankings. Brazil are third, while Latvia are in position seventeen and therefore it's a tough pool," Mulinge said.

Makokha, who will Captain the team, maintains that they will take a game at a time, adding that they have a feel of the championship after they play their first game.

“I think it is too early to tell. We will have a feel of the championship after we play the first match. We will take one game at a time. You can’t tell whether you will be knocked out and yet you have not even played the first match. It is about taking one match at a time,” Makokha said.

Her teammate, Agala says that despite being pooled with top teams in the world, they will take to the field as African Champions.

She is adamant that they will give the teams in their pool a very hard time, and they will leave everything on the pitch.

“I won’t say they will be difficult to play against; I believe we will also give every team a hard time. I know the teams in our group are ranked top in the world, but we are also African champions. So, I wouldn’t say they are very good until we meet them on the court. Beach volleyball is unpredictable, sometimes it depends on how you prepared on the day of the game,” Agala said.

Their opponents, Cavalcanti and Patricia have been playing together since early 2017. They will also be making their first Olympic appearance at Tokyo 2020.

The pair made their world championship debut at the 2019 edition in Hamburg, easing through their pool undefeated and beating the Chinese team of Xue Chen and Wang Xinxin in the first knockout round.

They were, however, eliminated in a tight round of 16 tie by the Swiss pair of Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli, finishing ninth.

They have been a dominant side in the World Tour for the past two years, managing ten podium finishes since 2019.