Kenya: Bitok Steps Down As Malkia Strikers Assistant Coach After Public Fury
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Kenya: Bitok Steps Down As Malkia Strikers Assistant Coach After Public Fury
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17 MAY 2024Capital FM (Nairobi)
By Timothy Olobulu
Nairobi — Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) vice president Paul Bitok has announced he is stepping down from an offered role as the Malkia Strikers assistant coach heading to the Olympic Games in Paris, following public fury.
Bitok had been named as an assistant to Paul Munala for the national women’s team that heads to Paris in the summer, while his boss, Federation president Charles Nyaberi had been named as the team manager.
The two had been named in the technical bench that included retired setter Janet Wanja as trainer, with Japheth Munala as the head coach.
The naming of elected officials into a national team technical bench had bore public fury, which was a precedent of Kenya losing a multi-million sponsorship from the FIVB to have technical support for the team heading to the Olympic Games.
“After extensive consultations with the Ministry of Sports, National Olympic Committee of Kenya, Malkia Strikers players, family, friends and fans, I have elected to step down from my position as the assistant coach of the national team,” Bitok said in a statement released Friday.
He adds; “This has been largely informed by the strong sentiments that have arisen out of the appointment of the Malkia Strikers technical bench for the Paris Olympics which I was part of.”
Bitok also made it clear in his statement that he did not impose himself to the team, but was part of it before and during the Olympic qualifiers in Cameroon before his election as the KVF vice president.
He also added that he wished to end his coaching career after the Olympic Games, but he says he now turns his full attention to his executive role in the Federation.
By capital fM