KCB volleyball teams storm into Inter-Bank Games last four
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) men’s and women’s volleyball teams have secured places in the semi-finals of the ongoing Kenya Institute of Bankers Inter-Banks competition.
The two teams will face Cooperative Bank tomorrow at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi.
Speaking during the team’s training session at the Ruaraka Sports Club, KCB bank men and women volleyball coach David Kinga said: “We know the weight of the challenge that awaits us on Friday and we are preparing the two teams appropriately to stun our opponents and qualify for the finals.”
KCB bank football team has already booked a slot in the football semi-finals having cruised past ABSA in a closely contested affair where the former won 1-0.
The Chess team on the other hand currently sits third after garnering 31 points, Equity is leading the pack with 34 points while NBK is second with 33points. The team will lock horns with the I&M Bank today and is also set to battle DTB tomorrow in a crunch clash that will determine the winner of the tournament.
KCB Tug of war team has trounced all the opponents it has played against in the group stages. The team beat CBK 2-0 in their opening fixture, 2-0 against post-Bank, and 2-0 against AFC, and were granted a walkover against DTB.
KCB is scheduled to play Housing Finance tomorrow October 27th, 2022, and will play the last group stage match against Stanbic Bank on Friday before the final showdown on Saturday. The 36th edition of the Kenya Institute of Bankers (KIB) competition will come to an end on Saturday, October 29th, 2022 at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies.
Meanwhile, after missing the trophy by a whisker last season, KCB’s tug of war team made no mistakes this time round as they started their campaign at this year’s competition with a resounding 2-0 win over former champions Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) 2-0 before stopping Post Bank by a similar margin.
Team’s anchor Barnabas Mungo says the reason for their ruthlessness is as a result of the mistake they made in the final against Co-operative Bank in last year’s edition of the games.
“We lost to Co-op Bank 2-1, but we were to blame. Our kindness to allow the opponents to replace an injured player in round three when we were all tied at 1-1 cost us the cup,” said Mugo.
Immense energy
“The fresh player who came in was very tactical. He had immense energy, he finished us off completely, he perfectly delivered the cup to them.”
Mungo, who doubles as a player-cum-team manager, says KCB have set their sights on the trophy again this season, hoping they will bag it for the first time.
To show how serious the squad is, Mungo and the teammates always head straight to their training base at the KCB Sports Club in Ruaraka once they’re done with every game. To them training doesn’t stop at the final whistle.
Mungo is glad that this kind of focus is already paying dividends as the team defeated former tournament winners CBK with ease.
“We thought CBK were worthy opponents in our pool, but they could not match our tactics, our skills in the clash were simply beyond their reproach,” he said.
The KCB Bank Digital Finances Services Division Manager, Key Accounts said they are taking one game at a time in the ongoing competition, with the hope of emerging tops in their pool and proceed for the next round of matches with similar stealth.
In order to make the team sustainable for future Interbank championships, KCB has recruited five new players this season.
“Actually, our first eight is a pretty new line up as older players like us are passing the mantle to them. We are ensuring the fresh blood have the right skills and endurance needed for the job,” Mungo said.
The new recruits are Bob Muhati, Steve Biko, Steve Wamae, Dennis Waithaka and Brodie Kagai.
