ABUJA – Egypt Girls U-17 team won the African Nations Volleyball Championship, scoring 3-1 in the final match that was held in the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja, Nigeria.
Egypt defeated Nigeria 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21) in the three rounds.
Egypt was also qualified to the upcoming World Championship 2024 after this win.
Reacting to the loss, head coach of Nigeria U-17 team, Sunday Akapson said that the players gave a good account of themselves.
He said, “These are young girls and this is their first time playing in an international championship. They fought hard to secure a ticket for the World Championship next year.
“This is a very good grassroots for Nigeria Volleyball in general, we will continue to work on these girls to prepare them for future encounters,” he said.
He said the federation has promised to give them adequate support to prepare ahead of the World Championship next year.
“We are going to make Nigerians proud and in the ten years to come they will represent the country in the Olympics,” he said.
To emerge champions, Egypt proved a tough nut to crack for Cameroon and Nigeria, winning all the three matches in the competition. Egypt defeated Nigeria twice and defeated Cameroon in their second game. Having defeated Nigeria in the first match, Egypt stunned Cameroon 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 22-25, 15-13) in the second game to qualify for the final.
Nigeria defeated Cameroon in their second match and in the semi-final to book a final date with the champions.
In the final match, the Nigeria U17 girls failed to take the opportunity to revenge their loss to the North Africans despite huge home supports.
Egyptians started the final game on a high note and velocity getting vital points off the host.
The Nigerian team resumed the second set looking more determined, leading the set by 5 points before Egypt leveled up but cane back stronger to win the second set to level up on 1-1.
The third was entertaining as both teams showed class with their defences from lose ball. Egyptian and Nigeria were drawn in 20 to 20 points before the North African team took the third set 25 to 22 points.
Nigeria national team captain Mirabel Onyegwu was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the Championship.
Onyegwu said they wanted to win the championship adding that they will continue to work for the next edition.
“We will work harder to win the next year championship and Nigerian should expects that we are going to bring back the trophy for the world cup,” she said
Egypt finished first at the Volleyball championship, hosts, Nigeria came second after falling short in the final match while Cameroon placed third at the tournament.
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