Malkia lands in the Philippines, ready for the FIVB Challenger Cup hunt

NAIROBI, Kenya, July 2 – The Malkia Strikers women’s national volleyball team has landed in Manila, Philippines after a 15-hour journey in preparation for this week’s FIVB Challenger Trophy tournament, which will be crucial to the team’s preparations for this month’s Olympic Games.

Malkia left the country early Monday morning and arrived in Manila, via Bangkok, late in the evening. They had their first light session in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The team will play Puerto Rico on Thursday in an eight-team knockout tournament.

The girls have been undergoing in-house training at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani for the past three weeks and head coach Japheth Munala believes they are well prepared for the tournament.

“We have trained well for the past three weeks and everyone looks good and ready. It will be a tough tournament in the Philippines, but I am hopeful that we can do well. We are playing against Puerto Rico, a team that we have played before and lost 3-1. But I believe that if we can correct a few things, we can get the win against them,” said coach Munala Capital of Sports.

Play friendly matches in the Philippines

The team had initially planned to travel last Saturday and play at least one or two friendlies before the match against Puerto Rico, but they will now go into the match with only a few hours of training.

However, Munala hopes that after the Challenger Cup tournament the team can play a few more friendlies as part of their preparation for the Olympic Games.

If they beat Puerto Rico, Malkia will reach the semi-finals, where they will face the winner: Sweden or Belgium, the champion of the European Golden League.

“Our ambition is to do our best and make sure we put in a good performance on the pitch,” Munala added.

Team will benefit from Challenger Cup

Captain Triza Atuka agrees and believes the team will benefit greatly from the Challenger Cup, with their sights set on the Olympic Games.

“It’s a very good platform for us to see ourselves as a team. We need to know where we are and what we need to work on. Having tough matches is also good for us to improve our game. As a team, we are ready. We have trained well and prepared well,” Atuka said.

After the Challenger Cup, the team hopes to play at least one or two friendlies against clubs or countries in the Philippines before traveling home on Sunday evening.

They will then only have one day of rest and recovery in Nairobi when they arrive on Monday. Two days later they will leave for Miramas in France for the training camp in preparation for the Olympic Games.