Bitok hails talent at display in inaugural Heroes tournament

National women's volleyball team coach Paul Bitok is optimistic that Heroes Community tournament will be a rich scouting ground for senior clubs after a successful inaugural edition at Koitaleel University College grounds at the weekend. 

Bitok said that the tournament, which was making in-roads in Nandi County, is aimed at promoting talents in the region.

"This is the first edition and we want to continue doing this yearly to promote the sport at the grassroots," said Bitok, who is the patron of the tournament. 

He added that majority of volleyball players come from the counties of Uasin Gishu and Nandi but lack a good tournament to express their talents back home.

"The players are building a good rapport back home with such great talents and can motivate others to take up their mantle in future. We are telling those talented individuals to come out and enjoy the home grown talents," said Bitok. 

Western Queens and Kenya Defence Forces emerged winners in the senior clubs category. 

With rain pouring at the venue, the final matches in both men and women categories were cut short with Queens and KDF being crowned champions based on the three-set rule. 

Bitok explained that Queens and KDF were leading before it started raining hence the decision.

“We had to apply the three-set rule to determine the winner now that rain stopped the play. As organisers, we had to come up with the best way possible to ensure that all teams go home happy,” said Bitok. 

Before the rain, Queens were leading 2-0 against Post Bank while KDF and Homegrown were tied 1-1 but the soldiers were leading in scores in the third set. 

Nabutola Primary School defeated National primary school champions Soin Girls. 

The Bungoma County side outplayed Uasin Gishu’s Soin Primary in straight sets of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-17 to lift the title. 

Nabutola coach Geoffrey Kubasu Wekesa said they wanted to test their form and fitness as part of their preparations for the school games set to serve off soon. 

“It was good that we managed to win, by beating the national champions and we expect the same results when school games begin. This has been a long journey to stardom and we are glad we started long ago as part of our training,” said Wekesa.

In secondary schools, Kessegon defeated former national champions Cheptil Girls 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-14).

In boys category, Cheptil were too good for Bungoma’s Namwela winning 3-1 (25-20, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-19).