Kenya lose to Japan in World Championship

Kenya on Friday lost to Japan in her last fixture at the ongoing Women's U23 World Volleyball Championship in Slovenia.

The Asians powered to an undisputed straight sets win of 15-7,15-8,15-6,15-9 against coach Catherine Mabwi's charges in what turned out to be a one-sided contest.

Following this result, Kenya now bow out of what has been a toughing outing with an embarrassing 0-5 win loss game ratio, having also lost her earlier group games to Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey and Cuba without picking a set.

"This has been a learning process for us. More like an educational trip. The positives are that we are learning and you can note the improvement from the scores compared to our earlier games. The level of competition here is very tough," said Mabwi after the team's defeat to Cuba.

Against Japan, Yamuchi Misaki finished with a match-high nine kills, while Kenyan duo Yvonne Wavinya and Yvonne Wafula Sinaida contributed five points apiece.

According to the International Volleyball Federation official website, Kenya showed huge efforts to challenge Japan in the early stages of the match but could not cope with the speed and precision displayed by the Asians.

Meanwhile, all the matches in Slovenia are played under a new scoring system under review from the International Volleyball Federation, including best of seven sets (as compared to the earlier best of five) with each set consisting 15 points (with atleast a two-point difference needed).