Kioni: Malkia will qualify for Tokyo Olympics

What you need to know:

  • Malkia Strikers finished the tournament bottom of a tough-looking qualification group which also had European giants Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium
  • Cameroon, Africa's other representatives in the tournament also finished bottom in their group which also had Brazil, Dominican Republic, and Azerbaijan
  • Ramdoo also took issue with perceived underhand tactics employed by some of his players to deny stay blocker Edith Wisa an opportunity to travel to Italy

Kenya Volleyball Federation president Waithaka Kioni has backed the national women’s team to qualify for 2020 Olympics in Tokyo despite the team's poor performance in Inter-continental Olympic qualifiers played in Catania, Italy, at the weekend.

Malkia Strikers finished the tournament bottom of a tough-looking qualification group which also had European giants Italy, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Kenya lost in straight sets the three matches against these teams but coach Shaileen Ramdoo believes the team took some positives from that experience. Cameroon, Africa's other representatives in the tournament also finished bottom in their group which also had Brazil, Dominican Republic, and Azerbaijan.

"The results suggest we struggled and I will have a discussion with the technical bench on what actually happened because I expected better," said Kioni.

"In the long term, we have to invest in indoor arenas here for training and matches, and also try to send our players to Europe for professional stints if we are to stand a chance of closing the gap."

Ramdoo also took issue with perceived underhand tactics employed by some of his players to deny stay blocker Edith Wisa an opportunity to travel to Italy. Wisa was left heartbroken after her travel document mysteriously disappeared from her bag on the same day she and her teammates were to apply for visas to travel to Italy for the tournament. The missing passport was returned days later, but the Kenya Prisons player was already time-barred.

"We missed Wisa in Italy," the coach told Nation Sport. "We must eradicate such acts. I need players to fight for their spots as a team and not to cancel each other for spots."

Kenya's remaining chance of qualification to the Olympics for the first time since 2004 will be African qualifiers slated for January.