Kenya’s national women volleyball team, also known as the African Queens, secured a significant victory on the global stage by defeating Peru to claim gold in Group 3 of the FIVB Grand Prix in Australia.
The team emerged victorious with a score of 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23) in the final match held at the AIS Arena in Canberra, Australia.
According to Kenya coach David Lung’aho, in an interview with Nairobi News, "We are now on top of the world. For those who have been asking why we never won at this level, we will deliver this trophy to them."
In another match, Colombia took third place after defeating host country Australia 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-16) in the classification match at the same venue.
The Kenya team, sponsored by the National Oil Corporation, faced a challenging opponent in Peru, having previously lost 3-0 (18-25, 12-25, 23-25) in their last meeting in Mexico during the preliminary phase of the competition.
Despite Peru’s strong start, Kenya’s team rallied back under Coach Lung’aho’s guidance, similar to their performance against Australia in the semi-finals, to take control of the match and win the remaining sets.
Peru captain Uribe Mirtha noted, "We began the match well but lost ground in the second set by making silly mistakes and our opponents capitalized on that."
Attacker Mercy Moim led the scoring with 19 points, followed by Noel Murambi with 15 points and Captain Brackides Agala with 9 points.
