Malkia Strikers’ coach Paul Bitok has hinted at making changes to the squad ahead of the World Championships scheduled for September 23rd to October 15th.

The event will be co-hosted by the Netherlands and Poland.  In the absence of fast-rising setter Esther Mutinda and experienced Prisons’ Joy Luseneka, decade-long serving Jane Wacu is expected back into the team.

Wacu missed the African Nations Championship in September last year after participating in the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games.

Bitok, 48, will also include Emmaculate Nekesa, Rose Magoi, and Faith Imodia in the provisional squad expected to start training after the African Club championships in May. One of the three aforementioned players will make the cut alongside Wacu.

Kenya Pipeline duo of hard hitter Veronica Adhiambo and Noel Murambi are also in Bitok’s plans and so is Prisons’ Anne Lowem.

Bitok, who will vie for the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) deputy president seat in the June polls, said the squad will be a mixture of youth and experience.

“We will have some changes to the team to make Kenya competitive. “Some young players are promising and will be considered.

“Murambi was dropped last time because of injury while Lowem has improved in the last few months.

“A lot will happen between now and when we leave for high-performance training,” Bitok opened up.

Malkia are in Group ‘A’ together with the Netherlands, Cameroon, Italy, Belgium, and Puerto Rico.

Bitok who coached Rwanda for a decade before returning home wants at least a month of high-performance training in Brazil.

Kenya is still negotiating with Serbia to play friendly matches with some of their clubs while the priority is to have the team play some test matches in Europe a week before the competition,  according to Bitok.

“If we can have a month or two in Brazil, it will be good for the players. We are still discussing with Serbia to have at least a week’s preparations there. My preference also is to spend time in Europe to acclimatize before we head to the Netherlands,” he added.

Bitok is also open to the possibility of having coaches seconded by the Federation of International Volleyball to help Malkia prepare as was the case with last year’s Olympic Games. “It is possible to have international coaches. I believe that is FIVB’s long-term plan.”