Kenya Defence Forces' setter Veronica Kilabat is eager to make a mark at the World championships in order to stake a claim on a slot for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Kilabat, 26, finally made the 16-member Malkia Strikers squad, currently in two months of high-performance training in Brazil ahead of the world championships slated for September 23 to October 15.
The 19th edition of the quadrennial show will be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Poland. Kilabat and libero Veronica Makokha are the only KDF players in the Malkia squad.
"My journey is not for the faint-hearted because I have gone through a lot up to this point. I have had call-ups since 2016 but failed to make the final team. However, that did not dampen my spirit," said the soft-spoken player.
"I want to use most of my time in Brazil to improve my game and set myself up for a starting role in Poland. I have had a burning ambition to don the national colours and now I have the opportunity to represent the country at the World Championships. Impressing in Poland will put me in a better position to negotiate for an Olympics slot," she noted.
Kilabat will fight it out with 19-year-old Kenya Commercial Bank's Emmaculate Nekesa. The duo is keen to fill the void left by Jane Wacu who announced her retirement from national team duties last month to concentrate on coaching and club duties in Seychelles.
Kilabat's volleyball journey kicked off at Weaverbird High School before joining Mautuma Secondary School in her final year.
In 2015, she was called up for the Africa Under-20 Championship at Moi Stadium, Kasarani. She was also part of the National Under-23 team that did duty in Slovenia in 2017.
The Trans-Nzoia native enjoyed a three-year stint with Kenya Pipeline (2015-2018) before she was snapped up by KDF in January 2019.
"I have never trained under coach Bitok and I want to learn from him. I am good at finger-work but my ball-handling needs to improve. I am also good at the backcourt defense."
Malkia are in the tough pool 'A' alongside the Netherlands, Cameroon, Puerto Rico, Italy and Belgium.
