Kenya to face Brazil, Cuba in World Volleyball Championship

What you need to know:

  • Kenya coach Catherine Mabwi has backed her charges to come of age at the U-23 women's volleyball World Championship in Slovenia next year.
  • The week-long World Championship will be staged in Maribor and Ljubljana cities next August, and the junior Malkia Strikers - who beat Rwanda, Senegal and Botswana enroute to qualifying for the international tourney, are set to play bigwigs Italy, Brazil and Cuba in what looks certain to be a tough outing.

Kenya coach Catherine Mabwi has backed her charges to come of age at the U-23 women's volleyball World Championship in Slovenia next year.

The week-long World Championship will be staged in Maribor and Ljubljana cities next August, and the junior Malkia Strikers - who beat Rwanda, Senegal and Botswana enroute to qualifying for the international tourney, are set to play bigwigs Italy, Brazil and Cuba in what looks certain to be a tough outing.

Speaking to Daily Nation Sport on Wednesday, barely a week after masterminding qualification for the junior team to the international event, Mabwi also discussed her plans to improve the overall quality of the team in time for European assignment.

"The results from the African Championship confirm we have a very promising squad, which is the future of Kenyan volleyball and I am excited to work with them," Mabwi, an ex-international said.

"The players possess several attributes especially the height and stamina to fight. We will be looking to cut out some mistakes especially the service and reception, then seek to play a couple of friendlies before heading to Slovenia.”

Mabwi’s charges will also face stiff competition from Turkey, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, African champions Egypt and the hosts.

Kenya qualified for the World Championship after emerging runners-up to Egypt at the five- team Africa Nations Championship tournament at the Kasarani indoor arena last week.

The current squad which consists among others, up and coming stars Yvonne Wavinya, Ann Lowem and Pauline Wafula, will be aiming to improve on their performance compared to the last outing where the national team finished last at the 12-team tournament, having lost to China, Brazil, Germany and the United States in the preliminaries.

World Championship line up:

Slovenia, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Kenya, Japan and China.