The arena was alive with Brazilian supporters with the DJ switching between Kenya’s Isikuti and Brazilian beats. Jambo Bwana played as Malkia Strikers walked on the court.
Kenya’s Malkia Strikers went down by three straight sets against the world number two team Brazil in the opening match of the pool B preliminary round at the South Paris Arena. A result which has been received with mixed feelings of hope and determination.
“Not the results we wanted. I think an opening match is quite tough and difficult because we have not played any championships to know if what we have been training for is working but from today, we are able to know what is working for us and what is not working and be able to correct on that and plan on how to approach the next match,” said captain Trizah Atuka who was playing at her first ever Olympic Games after missing out on Tokyo due to an injury.
While commending the African Champions Malkia Strikers ball receiving improvement, coach Munala picked on the weak points like attacks and unforced errors such as hitting the ball out of bounds – areas Kenya will look at keenly before their next assignment.
“The players have tried their best, especially the first and second set, we played very well although we did not go beyond 15 scores,”
“The main problem with Kenya has been the reception, today we have received so many balls well. Brazil was very fast on the net, only one block was reaching for the defense so that gave us another challenge, we could not resist their offense towards us and our back row also flopped, that is how they managed to beat us,” Munala analysis of the match.
The arena was alive with Brazilian supporters with the DJ switching between Kenya’s Isikuti and Brazilian beats. Jambo Bwana played as Malkia Strikers walked on the court.
To try to win Kenya’s first match at the Olympic Games, Triza Atuka’s serve in-play imminently led to an excellent point inside 16 seconds, with Brazil responding within the first minute.
Thereafter it was Brazil all the way. Kenya lost the first set 25-14, followed by 25–13 and 25 – 12 in the second and third sets respectively, a sweep match that lasted 56 minutes.
“It was quite emotional that I'm living the dream that I've wished for and I have always worked for. It was emotional walking on that court and the one thing I told myself is that I just want to enjoy this match, I just want to do my best to enjoy myself and to psych the team,” Triza Atuka
“We have tried as per our capacity and the way we prepared; we would have wanted more points. We will work extra hard for next time. Our big problem is reception but today we have received well. We have junior players; they are not used to the pressure. We go for training and work hard on our weak points like the attack. But I am happy with the performance,” noted Agripina Kundu
.
The Brazilians went for a high-speed match but they did not play high-tossed balls, a combination that made it more challenging for Kenya.
“It was very quick tosses so even to be able to just get a few blocks in that match it means a lot because it was a high-speed game so It just shows that we are trying we are trying not that bad,” Atuka noted.
Brazil’s superiority was no surprise as they are Olympic gold winners from 2008 and 2012 and the latest silver from Tokyo. They are also silver medalists at the 2022 World Championships. With this success, they did their assignment against Kenya as revealed by Silva Carneiro.
“I think they (Kenya) played so good, we were studying in the videos and we saw a lot of things that made us completely ready for this game, we know that we know they are so powerful and also in defense they are so organized and we were focusing on this game because we know Kenya can be dangerous,”
Kenya’s quest to win a set at the Olympic Games will continue on the 31st when they face third-ranked team Poland.
“If we can receive well, make the net defense and back code work then it is possible for Kenya to win a set at the Olympic Games,” Munala.
“Poland is one of the strongest teams but I think having played Brazil today is an eye opener because most of the players will realize that if we can try and do better with Brazil, then even Poland is a team we can equally match and do even much better” Atuka