Deputy President William Ruto heaped praise on the Kenyan women's volleyball team for emerging victorious in their African tourney in Morocco.
Malkia Strikers beat their Cameroonian rivals 3-1 to retain the title and take gold, in a high octane final match at the Salle Bouaazaoui Arena on Friday, August 30.
"Fantastic comeback by Malkia Strikers to beat Cameroon and retain the women's volleyball title at the African Games. You have done your country proud," Ruto wrote on his Twitter.
In the opening set, Kenya lost 18-10 to Cameroon.
This forced the national coach, Paul Bitok, to make drastic changes, introducing veteran players Triza Atuka and Leonida Kasaya.
This catapulted Kenya into an 18-12 win in the second set.
Kenya won the third set 26-24 and finally sealed the win with a 25-21 score in the fourth set.
"The match was difficult, remember we lost the first set. I thank the players for fighting from the first set to the end. Cameroon was confident of beating us because they did it two months ago, but everything worked in our favour,” Bitok stated.
The trophy also became the first title for the stand-in coach, Bitok, who took over from Shailen Ramdoo.
Malkia Strikers beat Nigeria in straight sets of 25-21, 25-16, 25-11 in a one-sided semi-final on Wednesday.
Julius Yego also won gold in the javelin category at the African Games.
Watch the video of Malkia Strikers celebrating after beating Cameroon, courtesy of National Olympics Committee (NOC).
