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2008
Olympic Games- Men’s African Qualifications,
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Day 3
Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria,
one more victory
 Durban,
South Africa February 5, 2008- The third day of the Africa
Olympic qualification for the
continental ticket in Beijing 2008 passes without surprises as
all the big teams Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria
and Nigeria clinched their victories over their opponent Gabon,
Mozambique, South Africa and Rwanda
here at Tongaat hall in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday .
Cameroon stayed at the head of Pool A
although they were in a rest day with 4 points same like
Algeria. Tunisia led Pool B with 5 points in three
matches ahead of Egypt that have 4 points in two matches.
It is well known that the champions of this competition will
secure the African Vacancy in the 2008 Beijing
Olympic Games.
Egypt vs. Gabon
Egypt used most of the bench players but succeeded to take over
Gabon in straight sets 3-0 (25-14, 25
-21, 25-10) in 53 minutes. The head coach intended to relief the
standing players after their great effort
during the biggest African derby against Tunisia in the first
match where they had a narrow victory after a
Marathon of 5 sets. Gabon team did well in the second set when
they were near all through due to their
tactical service and improved block. Egypt improved their win
loss ratio to 2-0 to come at the second
position in Pool B in two matches only, while Gabon dropped to
1-1 and come in the fourth position.
The Egyptian coach Ahmed Zakaria was not happy although his team
won in straight sets. “I think the
players didn’t play the match with the required motivations
although I gave the chance to many of the
substitutes to ensure that they are ready. I’m sad also because
the team repeated the same mistakes of
the service like the match against Tunisia.” He said.
The head coach of Egypt started the match with most of the bench
players and kept most of the standing
players like Ahmed Salah and Hamdi El Safi and Ashraf Aboul
Hassan outside after their great
performance against Tunisia in their first match, while Gabon
played with the main line up. Egypt
controlled the match through the efficient spikes of Saleh Fathy
and Mohamed Gabal and led 8-4 at the
first technical time out (FTT). Gabon started to improve their
block through Regis Dibangoye and Babala
Bougoindzi but they couldn’t withstand the strong Egyptian hits
from Mohamed Abdel Moneim and Gabl
so Egypt continued leading 16-8 before ending the set
comfortably 25-
In the second set the Egyptian coach again played with Mahmoud
Raouf in position 4 as well as with the
newly added player to the squad Ahmed Mosad. Gabon appeared in
better performance specially in
blocking so they went nearer until Egypt led 8-6. Gabon used the
tactical service and the improved
backline defense to lead for the first time 14-12 before Egypt
returned back by the strong spike service of
Abdel Kader to lead 16-14 at the STT. As Egypt improved again
their block they succeed to win the
second set 25-21.
The Egyptian players were more serious in the third set so they
led all through to win the set 25-10 and
the match 3-0.
Algeria vs. South Africa
The host team missed two set points in the third set against
Algeria to allow the Algerians to win in
straight sets 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 26-24) in 67 minutes in front
of a full house at Tongaat hall. Algeria
achieved their second victory in 2 matches to improve their
record to 2-0 and share the leadership of pool
A with Cameroon, while South Africa’s record becomes 1-2.
The match started point by point until Algeria led narrowly 8-7
at the FTT as both teams deployed their
block against the attacks of the opponent. The Algerian team
showed good performance from the two left
attackers Mohamed Chikhi and Ali Kerboua who did well in spiking
and serving. On the other hand South
Africa depended as usual on the skills of the experienced setter
Gershon Rorich and the attackers
Freedom Chiya and Thokozani Ntuli who did well. The reception
was the greatest problem for South
Africa so Algeria concentrated on the strong spike services of
Chikhi and Tawfik Mahdjoubi and
succeeded to win the first set 25-18.
The second set showed improvement in reception and attacks of
South Africa team so they stayed near
all through the set until Kerboua and chichi settled the
situation to their side 25-20.
South Africa tried to adjust the block through Naidoo Leslie and
Subendren Govendor but still Algeria
was the better side due to the skills of the attackers Kerboua
and Chikhi as well as the middle blockers
Salah Saidi and Amine Oumessad so they led 8-6 and 16-11. South
Africa tried to save the match and
played their best in the competition when their coach Abdel
Hamid El Wassimy made some substitutions
that turned the match as South Africa came from 18-22 to score 6
successive points to lead 24-22 where
they lost two set points to lose the set 26-24 and Algeria won
the match 3-0.
Tunisia vs. Mozambique
Tunisia found it easy to achieve their second victory in the
competition over Mozambique 3-0 (25-13,
25-9, 25-12) in 50 minutes although they played while affected
by the departure of their colleague Ayman
Ben Brik who left the competition back to Tunisia after he knew
that his father had died. Tunisia led Pool
B with 5 points in three matches from win- loss ratio of 2-1,
while Mozambique dropped to 0-3 to come at
the bottom of the pool with 3 points.
Tunisia started the match with a mixture between the regular
players and some of the substitutes like the
setter Saifeddine El Majid, the centre Skander Ben Tara and the
left attacker Slim Chekli. The Tunisian
team used the strong spike service and the better defense to
build their attacks to Khalid Belaid and
Hichem Kaabi and thus they led 8-5 at the FTT and continued
their leading 16-10 after a group of spike
services from Kaabi. It became easy for the Tunisian team to win
the set thereafter 25-13.
The matter became easier in the second set as the Tunisian team
concentrated more on the attack due
to their dominance in serving and attacking with only little
attempts for Mozambique through their attacker
Delcio Soares so it was easy for the Tunisians led by Kaabi to
win the set widely 25-9.
Tunisia scored 7 successive points in the third set before
Mozambique scored their first point and as
usual Mozambique couldn’t co apt with the Tunisian potent
service as they had disturbed reception and
thus Tunisia won the set 25-12 easily and the match 3-0.
Nigeria vs. Rwanda
Nigeria rebounded from one set behind to win their match against
Rwanda 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25
-17) in 88 minutes of thriller action. The Rwandan team showed
consistency in the first set and appeared
as winners when they won the first set comfortably, but suddenly
the performance dropped acutely starting
from the setter then the other players while Nigeria returned to
the match to win three successive sets.
The Rwandan assistant coach Emmanuel Ndungvtse referred the
defeat to the loss of confidence after
the team lost the third set and it was the main cause of the
defeat. “we lost the match psychologically
before technically and it was difficult for us to deal with the
situation after the players lost the confidence.
The Rwandan team started the match aggressively and succeeded to
control the net actions through the
disciplined block and the better backline defense, so they led
from the start till the end of the set and won
25-17 after a group of spikes from the wing spikers.
The second set showed equality in the performance of both teams
as Nigeria improved their block
against the Rwandan attacks and Seiefa Dikiyai did well in
spiking with Jonah Adamu so the result was
level until 16-16 when Nigerian performance reached the top to
win the set 25-22.
Rwanda regained the rhythm in the third set and began to use the
spike service of Eric Nsabimana and
also his potent hits from position 2 to lead 8-7 at the FTT.
Rwanda continued the same with the skills of
the setter Cesar Rubayita who led the combinations toimprove
the score to 16-12 at the STT. With the
efficient spikes of the Rwandan center Irakarama and the
opposite Nsabimana and on the other hand the
disturbed Nigerian defense Rwanda succeeded to lead 22-18 before
Nigeria survived acutely and score
7 consecutive points against only one for Rwanda and thus
Nigeria won the set 25-23 and made it 2-1
and it was the turn point of the match.
In the fourth set Nigeria was the dominant side in attack and
defense as they dominated the net through
Issac Geofrey and succeed to dominate all through till they won
27-17 and the match 3-1. |
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