World Championships: Malkia Strikers coach upbeat ahead of Poland clash
By Joel Masibo, August 25, 2025Kenya’s women’s national volleyball team, Malkia Strikers, head coach Geoffrey Omondi has expressed optimism in the team ahead of their second outing in Pool G of the ongoing FIVB Women’s World Championships in Thailand.
After losing their opening Group G match 0-3 (22-25,8-25,20-25) to Germany on Saturday, August 23, 2025, the African champions will be seeking to bounce back to their winning ways against another European side, Poland, on Monday evening, August 25, 2025, in Phuket.
Speaking after their training session on Sunday, August 24, 2025, Omondi said if the team can pick up from where they left off on Saturday, they were capable of causing an upset against Poland, the ranked country in the World.
Omondi upbeat
“The players did a fantastic job when they played Germany, and we hope that they will have the same gusto when they play Poland. We have trained well and tried to make amends in the areas where we were not good when we played Germany. And I believe we can cause upset against Poland. The players are in good spirits after some players got their allowances, and now the concentration is on the remaining matches,” Omondi, who doubles up as the Kenya Volleyball Federation National League champions Kenya Pipeline coach, said.
“If we can bag a set or two or even win the match altogether, then it will be something. This team has what it takes to compete at the high level if they can get international friendlies like we didn’t prior to the competition. All this is geared towards the 2028 Olympic Games,” he added.
Kenya played and lost against Spain and hosted Vietnam in a friendly match last week.
Kenya will play their last pool match against Vietnam on Wednesday at the World Championships, where the top two teams at the end of the preliminary matches will proceed to the second round.
On the other hand, Poland coach Stefano Lavarini was cautious ahead of Monday’s match starting at 4:30 pm local time, saying he will not underrate Kenya. Lavarini said that Kenya is a physical side that can cause upset when you least expect it.
“Just like Vietnam yesterday (Saturday), they pushed up to the wall and in fact bagged the first set, and that shows how volleyball is evolving. It’s on that note that we are keen to take every match seriously so that we can qualify for the second round. We played Kenya at the Olympics, and although we beat them 3-0, they play really well,” said Lavarini.
Captain Meldina Sande confirmed that some players had received their allowances after the team complained of the government’s delay in paying their allowances on time.
“Early this week, we did a video addressing the issue of allowance, which we had not gotten, but as of Friday, some players had gotten the money, and we want to thank the Ministry of Sports, the National Olympic Committee of Kenya and Mozzart for their support. We are now settled and ready to compete and record good results. We thank Kenyans back at home for their support, and we pray that we will make them proud,” said Sande, who plays for Rwanda Police.