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Kenya’s Malkia Strikers kicked off their Tokyo Olympics campaign with a disappointing 3-0 defeat to hosts Japan at the Ariake Arena.
The team was hoping to make a good impression in their first match against the home nation, only for them to lose three straight sets to nill.
Malkia Strikers have been pooled alongside the Republic of South Korea, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
Despite Japan’s otherwise convincing victory, they actually had to toil for it as Kenya proved to be a hard nut to crack.
Malkia took an early 4-1 lead in the first set, only for the home side to spring a comeback to win 15-25.
They followed up the victory with another in the second set as they stunned the Kenyan side 25-11 and ending the third set with 25-23 thrashing.
After loosing to Japan in the first match of Pool A, Malkia Strikers will then take on South Korea at 3:45 pm on Tuesday 27th July.