Bitok eager for memorable sign-off at World Championships

National women's volleyball team coach Paul Bitok is hoping for a kind draw when FIVB conducts the pooling for World Championships on February 28 in Warsaw, Poland.

Bitok, who took over the reins of the national team from Italian Shaileen Ramdoo in 2019, has enjoyed considerable success with Malkia Strikers, winning the African Games that year before guiding Kenya to the Olympic Games after a 16-year hiatus.

The former Kenyan international has already expressed interest in the Deputy President seat at the upcoming Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) elections in June. But before he leaves the touchline, Bitok wants to sign off his coaching career on a high by giving Kenya its first win at a global competition.

Kenya has never won a set at the Olympic Games, World Championships or World Cup.

It will be Kenya's seventh appearance at the World Championships having first qualified in 1994 when the competition was held in Brazil.

Kenya qualified for this year's edition after finishing second behind winners Cameroon at the Africa Nations Championships in Kigali, Rwanda last year.

"This is my last assignment because I want to go into politics. I have served the game as a player and coach and I think time is right for me to go into administration.

"I have seen the girls grow since I took over the national team. They have shown great improvement individually and also as a team. When we worked with the Brazilian coaches (ahead of Tokyo Olympics), the girls had reached a level where they could compete with top teams. I'm confident of winning at least one or two matches at World Championships if the draw favours us in order to sign off on a high," Bitok told Nation Sport on Saturday.

Kenya's top scorer at the Tokyo Olympic Games, Sharon Chepchumba was unearthed at the previous edition held in Japan in 2018.

Bitok has singled out Kenya Pipeline outside hitter Veronica Adhiambo as one of the youngsters he expects to impress in this year's edition that will be jointly hosted by Netherlands and Poland.

"She made her debut (at the Africa Nations Championships) in Rwanda and you could see that she has the confidence required at this level. She is among a group of young players who have shown great potential in the local league. The plan is to expose them at the World Championships and build a team for the Paris 2024 Olympics around them," offered Bitok.

FIVB president Ary Graca earlier this week promised African countries technical assistance during the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) Board of Administration meeting held in Rabat, Morocco.

While lauding outgoing KVF President Waithaka Kioni for going out of his way to seek technical support for the national team, Bitok believes a win at the World Championships will be a timely reward.

"I have witnessed first hand how beneficial the technical support from FIVB can be when we trained with the Brazilian coaches for the Tokyo Olympics. Kioni has contributed immensely to lifting the standards of volleyball in this country and as he prepares to leave office we can only thank him with a win at the global level," remarked Bitok, who was at the 2006 World Championships as Sadatoshi Sugawara's assistant.

World champions Serbia, Olympic champions USA, European champions Italy and South American champions Brazil are some of the favourites tipped to win this year's edition.

In the first round, the 24 teams will be spread across four pools of six teams playing in a round-robin system. The top four teams from each pool will advance to the second round. featuring four pools of four teams playing in six cities.

The second round will feature four pools of four teams playing once again in a round-robin system. At the end of the second round matches, the rankings of the four pools will be drawn up taking into account the points scored by each team in the first and second rounds. The four pool-winning teams of the second stage will qualify for the third stage, together with the top two of the second ranked teams.

The six teams competing in the third round will be divided into two three-team pools by a draw. After the matches played once again in a round-robin system, the top two in each pool will qualify for the semi-finals and final.

The third round pool winners play against the runners-up in this round. The semifinals winners advance to compete for the World Championship title. The losers face each other in the third place match.