Kenya women's national volleyball team

Last updated

Kenya
Flag of Kenya.svg
Nickname(s)Malkia Strikers
AssociationKenya Volleyball Federation
Confederation CAVB
Head coach Japheth Munala
FIVB ranking 20 (as of 10 July 2024)
Uniforms
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Kit shorts.svg
Home
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Away
Summer Olympics
Appearances4 (First in 2000 )
Best result11th (2004)
World Championship
Appearances6 (First in 1994 )
Best result13th place (1994, 1998)
Honours
All-Africa Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1991 Cairo Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1995 Harare Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1999 Johannesburg Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Brazzaville Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2019 Rabat Team Competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1987 Nairobi Team Competition
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2003 Abuja Team Competition
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2007 Algiers Team Competition
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2011 Maputo Team Competition
African Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1991 Cairo Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1993 Lagos Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1995 Nairobi Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1997 Cairo Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2005 Lagos Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2007 Nairobi Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2011 Nairobi Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2013 Nairobi Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2015 Nairobi Team Competition
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2023 Yaoundé Team Competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2003 Nairobi Team Competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2017 Yaoundé Team Competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2019 Cairo Team Competition
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2021 Kigali Team Competition

The Kenya women's national volleyball team, the Malkia Strikers, represents Kenya in international volleyball competitions. Kenya has dominated the African continent since the 1990s, winning the Women's African Volleyball Championship a record of ten times. They have qualified four times for the Olympics; in 2000, 2004, 2020 and 2024.

Contents

Kenya also has a beach volleyball team, who were the only women's team at the Tokyo Olympics. Kenya's women's sitting volleyball team did not qualify for Tokyo.

History

Women were not invited to play volleyball at the All-Africa Games until 1978. Those games were in Algiers, Algeria and Kenya did not send a team. [1] The team was there in 1991 for the Volleyball at the 1991 All-Africa Games where they were first. [2] They were also in Cairo when eight teams were present for the 1991 Women's African Volleyball Championship and Kenya again took the gold medal. [3]

Violet Barasa, as national team captain, lead the national team to its appearances at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics. [4] At both events they finished eleventh. [5]

In 2006 the team's coach was the Japanese coach Sadatoshi Sugawara who was assisted by Paul Bitok. They contested the FIVB World Championships in Japan although the team was said to lack professional players as the chosen team were students or players who were based in Japan. [6]

In 2007 their coach Sammy Kirongo led them to a seventh Women's African Volleyball Championship victory. That year's championships was in Nairobi and the final was against Algeria. The Kenyan team included Brackcides Agala, Janet Wanja, Dorcas Ndasaba and Catherine Wanjiru. Mildred Odwako was said to be the "best digger" and Janet Wanja was the "best setter". Dorcas Ndasaba was judged "best player" after she gained the final point to deliver victory in straight sets. [7]

In 2008 they failed to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics after they were beaten by Algeria and four years later Algeria again denied them qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. [8]

In 2015 Brackcides Agala was the captain of the team and Janet Wanja assisted her. The team announced that they refused to play for the 2015 FIVB World Grand Prix in Canberra after several victories. The players were annoyed that they had not been paid money that had been promised by the Kenya Volleyball Federation. The boycott was successful and the team played and won against Peru. However, the KVF were not pleased and when the team's were announced for the 2016 Summer Olympics neither Khadambi or her assistant Janet Wanja were asked to the qualifying matches [9] and the team failed to qualify. [8]

In 2020, under the new head coach of Paul Bitok, Kenya's women's volleyball team won the gold medal at the African Games [10] and they qualified for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics which was the first time in sixteen years. [5]

2020 Olympics

Kenya women's volleyball team qualified for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics by winning the pool round with three match points and securing an outright berth at the African Olympic Qualification Tournament in Yaoundé, Cameroon, marking the nation's return to the Olympics for the first time since Athens 2004. [5]

The chosen players names were revealed on 26 June 2021. [11] The Olympic team included the veteran Mercy Moim as captain and [12] Jane Wacu also made the team, [13] but former players Violet Makuto and Elizabeth Wanyama were not included. [14] Kenya's "Most Valued Player" Brackcides Agala was included in the beach volleyball team. [15] [9] The team received additional coaching from six Brazilian coaches who visited Kenya [12] and the team was then sent to Nairobi where they received additional coaching from the Brazilian coach Luizomar de Moura  [ pt ]. The other teams in their group in Tokyo are the home team Japan, Serbia, Brazil, Korea and the Dominican Republic. [13]

The team set off from Kenya for the Olympics in Tokyo in three batches to try and minimise the chances of being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. [16] The team's captain Mercy Moim was chosen to be one of Kenya's flagbearers at the Olympics opening ceremony (Moim was the second woman to be given this honour following archer Shazad Anwar in 2016). [17]

Their opening match was on 25 July in Tokyo against Japan. [18] Surprisingly Paul Bitok was not on the match's touchline, but Brazilian coach Luizomar de Moura  [ pt ] was announced as the head coach. He spoke to the press via the team manager. [19] The team lost their first match against Japan in straight sets. [20]

Results

Olympic Games

  • 1964 to 1996 — did not participate
  • 2000 — 12th place
  • 2004 — 11th place (tied)
  • 2008 — did not qualify
  • 2012 — did not qualify
  • 2016 — did not qualify
  • 2020 — 12th place
  • 2024 — 12th place

World Championship

World Cup

FIVB World Grand Prix

FIVB Challenger Cup

Women's African Volleyball Championship

All-Africa Games

2021 Beach volleyball Olympic team

Kenya also has a women's national beach volleyball team. [21] The team that gained Kenya qualification for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics was Yvonne Wavinya, Brackcides Agala, Phosca Kasisi and Gaudencia Makokha. They qualified when they won at the African Continental Cup Finals in Morocco in 2021. [22] They gained victory in a final against the Nigeria women's national volleyball team. Wavinga and Kasisi beat Tochukwu Nnoruga and Albertina Francis 2-0 while Agala and Makokha beat the other Nigerian pair of Francisca Ikhiede and Amara Uchechukwu 2–1. [22]

Kenya's beach volleyballers were in the four Continental Cup winners with Argentina, Cuba and China. Kenya has never had a beach volleyball team at the Olympics and they are only the fourth African country to send a team. [22] The four players who qualified will make up Kenya's Olympic beach volleyball team chosen by the coach Sammy Mulinge. [23] They will compete initially with the teams from Brazil, the US and Latvia in pool D at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. [24] The volleyballers stayed in Mombasa for training before flying to Tokyo. They were the African champions, but the pandemic meant that many of their future opponents had been able to play more matches. [25]

2021 Sitting Volleyball Paralympic team

Kenya's sitting volleyball team failed to qualify in the round robin contests in Kigali in September 2019. Rwanda won the place putting Egypt into second place in the final. [26]

Current squad

Roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The roster was announced on 9 July 2024. [27]

Head coach: Japheth Munala [28]

Previous squads

Related Research Articles

Janet Wanja is a volleyball player from Kenya, who competed for her native country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, wearing the number #7 jersey. There she ended up in eleventh place with the Kenya women's national team.

The 2007 Women's African Nations Championship was the 13th edition of the Women's African Volleyball Championship organised by Africa's governing volleyball body, the Confédération Africaine de Volleyball (CAVB). It was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 5 to 11 September 2007.

The 2003 Women's African Nations Championship was the 11th edition of the Women's African Volleyball Championship organised by Africa's governing volleyball body, the Confédération Africaine de Volleyball. It was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 16 to 23 August 2003.

The 2013 Women's African Nations Championship was the 16th edition of the Women's African Volleyball Championship organised by Africa's governing volleyball body, the Confédération Africaine de Volleyball. It was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 14 to 19 September 2013. The winner qualified for the 2014 World Grand Prix.

Dorcas Nakhumicha Ndasaba is a former Kenyan volleyball player. She was part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team.

Jane Wacu Wairimu is a Kenyan volleyball player. She is part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team as a setter. She participated at the 2010 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, and at the 2015 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup. She currently plays with VBC Chamalières.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercy Moim</span> Kenyan volleyball player

Mercy Moim is a Kenyan volleyball player. She played with the Kenya national team in the 2010 FIVB Women's Volleyball World Championship. She was team captain for the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Brackcides Agala Khadambi is a Kenyan female volleyball player. She was captain of the Kenya women's national volleyball team and she competed in beach volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Leonida Kasaya is a Kenyan volleyball player. She is part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigeria women's national volleyball team</span> National sports team

The Nigeria women's national volleyball team represents Nigeria in international women's volleyball competitions and friendly matches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Cup</span> International volleyball competition

The 2019 FIVB Women's World Cup was the 13th edition of the event, contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was held from 14 to 29 September 2019 in Japan. This was the first time that the FIVB did not distribute Olympics places since 1991 due to Japan hosting the 2020 Summer Olympics, but points for the FIVB World Rankings were given.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenya at the 2020 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Kenya competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the nation's fifteenth appearance at the Summer Olympics since its debut in 1956, having boycotted the 1976 Montreal and 1980 Moscow Games.

Paul Bitok is a Kenyan volleyball player and coach who leads the women's national team in Rwanda. He is the head coach of the Kenya women's national volleyball team which qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics, although before their first match, Brazilian coach Luizomar de Moura was announced as Kenya's head volleyball coach.

Gladys Ekaru Emaniman is a Kenyan volleyball player. She is part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team.

Gaudencia Makokha is a Kenyan female volleyball player. She was part of the Kenya women's national volleyball team playing beach volleyball at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics.

Yvonne Wavinga is a Kenyan volleyball player who plays for Kenya Prisons. She has played for Kenya's U23's and helped qualify Kenya women's national volleyball team for the beach volleyball tournament at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, having never participated previously.

Phosca Nekesa Kasisi is a Kenyan female volleyball player who plays for Kenya Commercial Bank. She is in the Kenya women's national volleyball team as captain of the beach volleyball team at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Kenya has never had a beach volleyball team at the Olympics.

Francisca Ikhiede is a Nigerian volleyball player who plays in the Nigeria Customs team and the Nigeria women's national volleyball team.

Naomi Too is a Kenyan volleyball player in the Kenya women's national volleyball team.

Rebecca Cavalcante Barbosa da Silva is a Brazilian beach volleyball player. She competed for Brazil with Ana Patrícia Ramos in women's beach volleyball at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In their match against Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Khadambi of Kenya in pool D, they won in straight sets.

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