Kenya: Omondi Names Debutant-Filled Malkia Strikers Squad for World Champs

9 June 2025
Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Omondi Onyatta

NAIROBI — National women's volleyball team coach Geoffrey Omondi has named a 29-woman provisional squad ahead of this year's FIVB World Championships in Thailand.

The team includes players who shone for their respective clubs in the recently-concluded national league playoffs, while missing out on experienced players who have been a mainstay of the squad for a number of years.

Among those rewarded with a call-up include Kenya Pipeline's Daisy Leting who was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the concluded campaign following a virtuoso performance that propelled the oil merchants to the league crown.

Joining her in the Malkia Strikers squad from Kenya Pipeline include Emmaculate Nekesa (named the best setter), skipper Gladys Ekaru (best middle blocker), Loice Simiyu (best opposite) as well as Celestine Nyongesa, Mariam Musa, Lydia Emokol and Elizabeth Sokoiyo.

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Sarah Namisi and Sharon Jeruto, who were crowned best server and outside hitter respectively, have also been rewarded for their good showing with the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), with a spot in the team.

The national league concluded on Saturday with Pipeline swatting aside the sleuths in Game One and Two at the Kasarani Indoor Gymnasium.

Immediate former defending champions Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) took bronze after outclassing Kenya Prisons 3-1 (25-27, 25-14, 25-20, 25-13) at the same venue.

Back to Malkia Strikers, the national team will be playing in their first tournament since the Paris Olympics where they exited at the group stage.

The global championships will be the first assignment for Omondi who was appointed national team boss in April.

The Kenya Pipeline head coach will be buoyed after spurring the oil merchants to the league crown in his first season in charge.

He also led them to third place at the Africa Club Championships in Abuja, Nigeria in April.

Under his tutelage, Malkia will be hoping to go one better than their performance in 2022 in the Netherlands where they won their second ever match at the competition - a straight sets thrashing of arch-rivals Cameroon.

Read the original article on Capital FM.

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