Nairobi, June 28: Veteran Japanese coach Sadatoshi Sugawara arrives in Nairobi on Sunday (July 2) to take charge of the Kenya national women's team ahead of the World Championships in Japan.
This will be the fourth time in 10 years that the 67-year-old tactician will be grooming a Kenyan side for a major FIVB event.
Sugawara, who has lots of experience gained from his days as a player and top-flight coach, is coming to Kenya courtesy of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the FIVB.
He has in the past handled the Kenya team for the 1995 World Cup and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Kenya Volleyball Federation chairman Waithaka Kioni officially announced the coach's arrival yesterday, saying that with a coach of his calibre Kenya was set to impress at the World Championships.
Sugawara's first assignment will be to prepare the Kenya team for the Four-Nation Pre World Cup tournament in Nairobi in mid-July. The tournament will bring together Kenya, Egypt, Cameroon and Nigeria and is sponsored by East African Breweries through their Malta Guinness brand.
"We want to win the tournament so that we have a psychological advantage when we go to Japan," Kioni said as he received the sponsorship money in Nairobi on Wednesday.
"We have in the past performed badly on the world stage, mainly because of poor preparations. But with the Malta support we are sure to prepare well and impress in Japan," Kioni said, adding that Kenya was determined to go
past the first round of the 24-nation World Championships.
Caroline Wainana from EABL said they were looking forward to a world-class tournament considering that the Nairobi event will bring together Africa's best women's teams. Of the four, only Nigeria did not qualify for the World Championships.
The sponsorship is worth KSh7 million (US$98,000) and is one of the biggest sponsorships in Kenyan volleyball.
Captain Lucy Chege said the team was training hard so that it could reciprocate the good gesture from Kenyans.
Kenya recently named a provisional squad of 22 players to start preparing for the World Championships. The majority of the players are drawn from
African club champions Kenya Commercial Bank and from Kenya Pipeline.
The team is training in Nairobi under five coaches: Paul Gitau, David Lung'aho, Sammy Kirongo, Juma Walukhu and Paul Bitok.
Veteran Dorcas Ndasaba is the most experienced player in the provisional squad having featured in four previous World Championships, two Olympics and 15 African Championships.
Other highly experienced players are Judy Serenge (2-2-15) and captain Violet Baraza (3-2-13). Only nine of the selected players have not featured in the World Championship before.
In the World Championships, Kenya is in Pool A alongside Korea, Poland, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Costa Rica.
According to the FIVB women's rankings, Kenya is placed 12th, higher than Chinese Taipei (23) and Costa Rica (33).
"On paper, we should be able to beat these two and make it to the second round," said Kioni.
Sugawara Profile
Name: Sadatoshi Sugawara
Date of Birth: February 18, 1939
Place of Birth: Akita, Japan
Nationality: Japanese
As a player
1960 World Championships in Brazil (8th place)
1962 World Championships in Russia (5th place)
1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Bronze Medal)
As a coach
1978-1984, Japan junior men's national team head coach (Asian Championship 3 times, World Championship 8 times).
1984, head coach, Japan junior national team (World Championship, silver medal)
1991, UAE, national team head coach for one year
1992, Japan, head coach, men's youth national team for one year
1995 (Nov), Kenya women's national team head coach for 1995 World Cup,through Japan Foundation.
1995 (Dec), Kenya national women's team coach for one year
2000 June-2001 January, Kenya national team coach for Sydney Olympics
(Finny Muyeshi, Press Officer, Kenya Volleyball Federation)
