Malkia Strikers’ Commonwealth journey ends
Despite defeating Ghana on Wednesday, Malkia Strikers’ 2022 Commonwealth Games journey came to an end on Thursday after they failed to make the quarter-finals of the beach volleyball women’s event.
The Kenyan team, comprising of Gaudencia Makokha and Brackcides Agala was hoping to make the knockout stages of the global games as one of the two best third-placed teams from the group stages but they were unable to do so with Scotland and Sri Lanka sailing through.
Salome Wanjala’s charges finished third in Group A with four points from three matches played same as Sri Lanka and Scotland in Groups B and C respectively but an inferior set ratio denied them the chance to progress in their Commonwealth debut.
Five sets
The Kenyan queens dropped five sets with the other two teams losing only four.
Malkia Strikers started their games debut with a 2-0 loss to New Zealand on Saturday and followed that up with another straight sets loss on Monday to defending champions Canada.
Agala and Makokha however would redeem themselves in their final pool game against African rivals Ghana but that 2:1 win, despite being monumental, was ultimately the difference-maker in the end.
The Kenyan ladies, who were participating together at their third major global games in the space of a year, were the most potent of the three third-placed teams but also the most porous in defence.
Set Ratio
The pair won 101 points but also let in 134 to conclude with a Set Point Ratio of 0.754. Scotland had the highest Set Points Ratio at 0.925 after allowing 106 points to their group stage opponents with 98 points won. Sri Lanka was the least potent side among the three with only 40 points won from their three group stage games. The South Asians gave up 84 points to end with a Set Points Ratio of 0.476.
Despite Malkia Strikers’ exit, Kenya’s medal hunt at the Commonwealth still continues. The country has so far bagged eight medals with one Gold, three Silver and four Bronze.
Sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala made history earlier in the week as he won Kenya’s first-ever gold in the 100 meters dash at the Commonwealth stage.
