Africa-Press – Kenya. National Under-21 coach Mike Malungu wants early preps ahead of the Junior Africa Cup in September if the country is to produce better results.
The venue for the competition will be revealed later.
Malungu said the return of the Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) League in February will be a big boost to the players whose fitness levels have been hampered by inactivity in the last two years.
“We would like to start as soon as possible to sharpen the boys and make them thoroughly prepared. Remember, we have been out of action for a long time but on the positive, the boys have been training,” he noted.
He added: “We all have our fingers crossed that the league resumes in February. Once the league starts, it will be easy to asses the progress of the players because we really have assembled a large pool of players who we think have something to offer at junior and senior levels.”
Reflecting on 2021, Malungu said: “It was a bad year to be honest with the pandemic taking a toll on the game.”
“We had prepared the boys and girls properly for the Junior World Cup Qualifiers earlier scheduled for August because of the Covid-19 cases in Namibia at that time.”
He noted: “I was disappointed because South Africa and Egypt who played in the JWC in 2016, were again picked without breaking sweat.”
“Our youth have improved remarkably and could have given both South Africa and Egypt a run for their money. We had a better chance to showcase to the continent the talent we have in Kenya,” he noted.
Meanwhile, Malungu, who doubles up as senior national team assistant coach, confirmed that the senior national team will name their provisional squad for the African Cup of Nations in Accra, Ghana from January 17-23.
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