Record teams register for volleyball league

Fifty-five teams drawn from primary and secondary schools alongside universities and inter-estates are set to compete in the eighth edition of the Nairobi County Savlon volleyball league.

This two-month long annual competition, which aims to discover and harness talents at the grassroots, was launched on Friday in Nairobi by among others, Mukurwe-ini lawmaker Anthony Kiai, Johnson and Johnson Business Development Manager Walter Ogonje and Kenya Volleyball Federation's Nairobi branch chairman Moses Mbuthia.

The tournament is bankrolled by Savlon and serves off at State House Girls on Saturday.

"The most important thing is to be transparent. All the funds you collect in this competition, please use it to improve and showcase these young talents. Account for everything now that you have a sponsor," said Kiai.

Defending champions Kenyatta University (men) and Strathmore (women) will be seeking to retain the titles in the universities categories, a feat that comes with a trophy and Sh40,000 prize money.

National champions Kwanthanze (girls) and Hospital Hill (boys) are expected to dominate in the secondary schools' category, same as Uasin Gishu's Soi Primary school.

Clubs from Makadara, Ruaraka, Langata, Mathare, Roysambu, Mukurwe-ini, Murang'a and Kasarani have also registered to compete in the Inter-Estates category.

"We also have the sitting volleyball category which is very popular and plan to include beach volleyball in the next edition. You can see the interest from many teams from outside our county, it shows how popular this sport can be," saidi Mbuthia.

Poland-based blocker Gaudencia Makokha and Kenya Prisons star player Ann Lowem are some of the players who honed their skills in this tournament.