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2008
Olympic Games- Men’s African Qualifications,
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Day 4
Egypt, Cameroon
and Algeria to semis
Durban, South Africa February 6, 2008-
Three teams out of four secured their places in the
semifinal spot of the Africa Olympic qualification
to determine continental representative in Beijing
2008 as Cameroon, Algeria and Egypt already
qualified leaving only one place after the fourth
day of the competition and one day before the end of
the group stage here at Tongaat hall in Durban,
South Africa on Wednesday.
The last place in the semifinal will be determined
between Tunisia and Morocco at the end of the
preliminary round during the fifth day of the
competition on Thursday. The three qualifiers
secured their place after each of them achieved the
third victory with clean sheet. Cameroon defeated
Nigeria while Algeria won Rwanda in pool A and both
lead the pool with 6 points. Egypt pulled of the
third victory in Pool B and finished on top of the
pool, while Morocco took over Gabon to keep their
hopes of a semifinal vacancy competing with Tunisia
which was in a rest day for the final ticket.
It is well known that the champions of this
competition will secure the African Vacancy in the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Egypt vs.
Mozambique
Egypt continued their winning Rhythm and achieved
their third victory in a row over Mozambique in
straight sets 3-0 (25-11, 25-12, 25-18) in 52
minutes to secure the first ticket in the semifinal
from pool B. Egypt improved their win- loss ratio to
3-0 and end the fourth day at the top of pool B with
6 points. Mozambique dropped to 0-4 to come at the
bottom of the pool.
The Egyptian coach started the match with a mixture
of the standing and bench players and succeeded to
pass easily through the block of Mozambique. The
Egyptian team scored many points through the spikes
of Ahmed Salah from position 2 and both Mohamed
Abdel Moniem and Mahmoud Raouf from position 4 to
win the set 25-12.
In the second set Mozambique tried to use their big
gun Delcio Soares but the Egyptian centers blocked
him to allow Egypt to win the set 25-12.
Mozambique team played their best in the match
during the third set as they improved their block
against the right and left attackers so the Egyptian
team changed to the fast combinations using the
middle blockers Ahmed Mosad and Hossam Shaarawy
which wasn’t tolerated by the opponent so Egypt
continued their way to win the set 25-18.
Cameroon vs.
Nigeria
Cameroon secured a semifinal berth after they took
over Nigeria in an exciting match 3-0 (25-22, 25-18,
25-21) in 66 minutes that show good start from the
Nigerian team, followed by explosion from the lions
stars who went through their tough opponent.
Cameroon improved their record to 3-0 to lead pool A
with 6 points. Nigeria dropped to 1-3 to end their
matches in the third position with 5 points.
The Nigerian team surprised Cameroon in the first
set with their disciplined block and strong spikes
of Jonah Adamu and Seiyefa Dikiyai, so they had the
lead at the start 8-7. The Nigerian team deployed
their block against Cameroon big guns Jean Nziemi
and Wounembaina and succeeded to keep they lead
until 22- 20 but suddenly Cameroon team exploded to
score five successive points and win the set 25-22.
The second set showed better performance from
Cameroon team specially the big gun Nziemi who sent
his rocket from position 2 and also the spike
services so they led 8-4 at the FTT. Nigeria
improved their block through Jatto and David
Ogungbemi to decrease the point deficit to 16-15 at
the STT. Cameroon continued their way to win the set
25-18
The more motivated Cameroon team continued the same
rhjythm in the third set as the setter Marcel Ndaki
led the efficient combinations helped by the centre
Jean Ndaki and the opposite Nziemi to win the set
25-21 but after good resistance from the Nigerian
defense.
Rwanda vs.
Algeria
Algeria continued their clean sheet and clinched
their third victory over Rwanda 3-0 (25-17, 25-19,
25-17) in 66 minutes to secure a place in the
semifinal. Algeria improved their record to 3-0 to
lead Pool A with Cameroon with 6 points while Rwanda
dropped to 0-3 at the bottom of the pool.
Algeria started by the usual line up and was the
dominant side through the strong spikers Ali Kerboua
and Mohamed Chikhi who succeeded to penetrate the
Rwandan block that couldn’t withstand and so Algeria
led 8-4 and continued their superiority through the
solid block against the Rwandan attacks to win the
set 25-17.
Again Rwanda complained from the bad reception that
was used by the Algerian team through the fast
combination directed by the setter Debbih Messaoud
and Algeria led 8-6. Rwanda started to use the
backline spikes through Guma Yakan to deceive the
Algerian block and also the strong spikes of Eric
Nsabimana from position 4 but the Algerian block
quickly arranged their position but after Rwanda
scored many points to decrease the point deficit to
16-12 at the STT. Rwanda continued their attacking
strategy to stay near but the better Algerian block
succeeded to keep the lead until they won the set
25-19.
Morocco again had the upper hand in the third set as
they took care of the service as well as the block.
Kerboua and Chikhi again did well and Algeria kept
leading all the time. The Moroccan coach made many
substitutions to give the chance to some bench
players and he succeeded to continue the same till
they won the set 25-17 and the match in straight
sets.
Gabon vs.
Morocco
Morocco played with most of the list of players and
swept Gabon 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-13) in 53 minutes
after they used well their skills in the strong
spike services which weren’t received well by Gabon
except in the second set which was the most
competitive. Morocco improved their record in Pool B
to 2-1 with 5 points in the third place, while Gabon
dropped to 1-2 in the fourth position of the pool.
The match started with concentration of Morocco on
the service specially of Zakaria Bairi who succeeded
to score 5 points out of eight from his tactical
service so Morocco led easily 8-1 at the FTT. Gabon
improved the reception relatively afterwards but
still Morocco had the upper hand to lead 16-4 due to
the efficient spikes of Bairi and Mohamed Abicha.
Morocco continued the same strategy until they won
the set 25-11.
The second set showed different picture as Gabon
started to arrange the backline defense and used
their strong weapon Belenger Madengue to penetrate
the Moroccan block so they came near until 12-11.
Again Morocco started to take the matter seriously
so they regained their disciplined attacks until
they led 20-15. Gabon tried to adjust the block
through the center Regis Dibangoye, but Morocco
succeeded to end the set 25-19.
In the third set Gabon started to do some
combinations by net through the setter Cedric Bekale
but Morocco dealt with this through the block of
Idriss Cherqi and succeeded to lead 8-4 then 16-11.
Morocco head coach made some substitutions to give
the chance to all the players and succeeded to win
the set 25-15 and the match 3-0. |
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