Kenya women’s volleyball national team manager John Oronje believes the experienced players that were left out of the FIVB World Championship squad are still needed in the team.
Oronje, the Kenya Volleyball Federation Sports Organising Secretary, said the experienced players’ services will still be needed in the future.
Oronje, while praising the current team for impressing at the World Championship despite their exit in the group stages, said the future of the sport in the country was bright.
“This was a relatively new squad. They performed well, and we want to laud them for the performance they have posted at the World Championship. We just want to build on this going forward. But that does not mean that we’ve locked out the experienced players that were left out of this championship. Their services will still be needed,” said Oronje at the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel in Phuket, Thailand, on Thursday.
The experienced players that were overlooked were hard-hitting Sharon Chepchumba, former Malkia Strikers’ captains Mercy Moim and Triza Atuka, KCB skipper Edith Wisa, as well as Leonida Kasaya and libero Agripina Kundu.
Oronje said that for the gap to be bridged, Kenya must invest in technology saying the sport is evolving and there was a need for the country to embrace the development if they have to catch up with the top ranked countries in the world.
“We have to invest in infrastructure and more so electronic equipment like Video challenge and VIS. I know the equipment is expensive, but we are hopeful that through the government and our sponsor Mozzart, we will be able to get them. We remain hopeful that we will get the equipment soon so that we can start using them in the National League and Kenya Cup. With the equipment, I believe we will have done away with complaints of poor officiating and so teams will lose or win fairly,” said Oronje.
“We have no choice but to ensure our league matches are played indoors. This performance can be attributed to most of the league matches having been played indoors. The average age of this team is 23 years, and so that means that they have a future in the sport. A player like Terry Tata (18) has been impressive and I wouldn’t be shocked if she gets the interest from teams across the world. But all in all, we are happy with the team’s performance and we just want them to go home and rest, have time with family as they plan ahead of the new season that is expected to start late September,” added Oronje.