Malkia Strikers are facing uncertainty in their camp more so with regards to the upcoming Volleyball World Championships set for September 23 to October 15 in the Netherlands and Poland.

The Kenyan national volleyball squad are in dire need of financial assistance and have tabled a Ksh 46M budget to the government in plea of monetary facilitation to the Championships.

FIVB suspension

Failure to compete in the World Championships, Malkia Strikers risk suspension from the volleyball world governing body FIVB.

Surprisingly, the Kenyan ladies had landed a sponsorship deal from FIVB for a month-long training camp in Brazil after which they were to travel to Serbia for another month of training.

“We are stranded and we don’t know what will happen because we were supposed to leave on Saturday morning. Training has stopped today because our fate is not known. We don’t know if the World Championships will be affected as well,” said Malkia Strikers head coach Paul Bitok.

“The President His Excellency Uhuru Kenyatta celebrated with us in Mombasa after we came back from the Olympics and promised us we will not have problems again. I hope he will remember this and keep his promise and talk to the ministry to give us funding for this trip,” added Bitok.

Kenya Volleyball Federation vice chairman Charles Nyaberi stated they had requested Ksh23.26M for the camp in Brazil, a further Ksh6.5M for the Serbia camp and Ksh16M towards the World Championships.

“FIVB picked on us as the only African team getting this sponsorship. We are just hoping that everything goes well. The government has always come through for us and we hope that they will come through again. This team has a track record of success,” said Nyaberi.

Malkia Strikers

The team is expected to leave for South America on June 18 for a two-month training camp but the government is yet to respond in regard to the team’s budget.

The budget was presented on April 27, according to Kenya Volleyball Federation vice chairman Charles Nyaberi.

Kenya are in the Pool ‘A’ alongside continental rivals Cameroon, Belgium and Puerto Rico. Also in the pool of death are European champions Italy and the Netherlands.