Nairobi, Tuesday October 10: Kenya’s national women’s volleyball team for the upcoming World Championships in Japan has wound up its training camp at Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani.
The 12-member team, which has been under the supervision of assistant coach David “Demosh” Lung’aho, left Nairobi on Monday night for Akita in Japan where they will train for three weeks before moving to Tokyo for the World Championships.
According to Lung’aho, head coach Sadatoshi Sugawara left for Japan two weeks ago to make arrangements for the team’s training in Akita, where they are expected to play friendly matches against top clubs in Japan.
“The players are in high spirits and, as we switch our training camp to Akita, I would like to assure Kenyans that we are going to perform better than we have done in the previous World Championships,” said Lung’aho.
The team, which has been in residential training for a record three months, was originally camping at Karura Forest but later moved to the modern Kasarani gymnasium with the Kenya government paying for the bill.
Lung’aho said the training they have had locally under Sugawara has been very useful since every member of the team has shown much improvement and they will be making final touches while training in Akita.
“All departments are now functioning well and what is left is just to fine tune the team. After that we shall be ready for any opposition at the World Championships and this time round we are going to battle to the last player,” said Lung’aho.
Team captain Dorcas Ndasaba said the players were very grateful to the government for paying the team’s allowances to the tune of Kshs 1 million before they leave for Akita and it was now up to the players to go out there and prove themselves.
“Morale is very high in the team since the government stepped in to settle the team’s allowances and with the kind of professional coaching we have received from Sugawara while in camp for the last three months I want to assure Kenyans that we are going to perform well at the World Championships,” said Ndasaba.
Kenya has never won a single match at its previous appearances at the World Championships but this time round team members have vowed to bring down at least two of the teams in their group.
The Kenyan squad, which is mainly composed of youthful players identified during last December’s East and Central Africa Club Championships staged in Nairobi, is grouped with Costa Rica, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Poland and Japan.
