Rwanda national coach Paul Bitok hopes his women’s under-23 volleyball team will emulate their male counterparts performance when the 2017 World Championship qualifier serves off this Sunday at the Safaricom Indoor Arena, Kasarani.
Bitok guided Rwandese boys’ youth and junior teams to the World Championships two years ago and the Kenyan export is hoping the script will be same with the women’s side.
The championship, which has attracted six nations including Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal, Botswana, Rwanda and host Kenya will see the top two teams qualify for the World Championship set for next year in Ljubljana and Maribo in Slovenia.
“It will be befitting if the women’s team qualify for the World Championship. I know for sure our opponents are tough but we want to be among the two teams that will book the two tickets up for grabs,” he said.
He added; “Since we arrived here on Sunday, we have had successful training sessions at the event’s facility. The players are slowly but surely adjusting to the environment and now we are tightening our loose ends ahead of the show.”
Bitok said the team will not play any friendly with local clubs as it had been scheduled. “We had wished to play friendly matches with local clubs to gauge our performance and preparedness ahead of the event but it will not happen and therefore we will continue with the training,” he added.
Meanwhile, Botswana women’s team arrive today ahead of the championship. Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) chairman Waithaka Kioni said: “We are yet to get the exact dates of the arrival of other remaining three teams—Tunusia, Egypt and Senegal but the deadline for teams arrival is on October 21. So far the preparation to host the event are in top gear.”