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2008 Men’s African
Clubs Champions Championship-
Misurata, Libya |
Day 1
Swehli attracts
the Libyan spectators in the opening day
Misurata,
Libya, April 9, 2008- The opening day of the 2008 Men’s
African Clubs Champions Championship showed a highly
attracting thrills where GSU of Kenya were the stars of
the day defeating the favorites FAP with the other
winners Al Guish and Al Aly of Egypt and Esperance of
Tunisia. The organizers Swahli of Libya entertained
their highly motivated spectators and achieved the first
victory for the host country over VC Force of RD Congo
at the Sports Games Hall in Misurata, Libya on Thursday
in presence of the Libya President’s Sun Dr. Mohamed Al
Khaddafe who attended the opening ceremony with CAVB
President Dr. Amr Elwani, Local Organizing committee
president Ayad El Misurati, Control Committee President
Abdelhadi Ghzali, Referee commission president Hassan
Ahmed and CAVB technical director Mrs. Howyda Mondy. Al
Khaddafe is considered one of the great supporters to
volleyball in the country.
Swehli vs. VC Force
In front of 3000 highly excited spectators it was
difficult to any team to face the organizing team Swehli
team who needed 62 minutes to overcome VC Force of RD
Congo 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-19) in pool A.
Swehli setter Obied Ibrahim led his team with his
skillful combinations that couldn’t be tolerated by
Congo team so they keep their lead all through the first
set till they won widely 25-11. The second set showed
more concentration in VC Force defense and that allowed
them to stay near but the efficient hits of Mohamed Ben
Ouhida and Hesham Elmadayer ended the situation to their
side 25-18. The more motivated spectators helped Swehli
to continue the same rhythm in the third set as they won
25-19.
Al Guish vs. Ahli Beni Ghazi
Al Guish of Egypt started their way positively when they
defeated Ahly Beni Ghazi of Libya in straight sets
25-18, 25-18, 25-20 in 72 minutes. Al Guish started the
competition with a record of 1-0 in Pool B, while Ahly
Beni Ghazi dropped to 0-1.
The first set showed dominance through the skillful
setting of Ahmed Samir which was used well by the wing
spikers Islam Awad and Nathan Wenmian. El Guish led 8-5
and 16-12. Then they used the good reception and digging
to continue leading till they won the set 25-18.
The second set showed a good start from Ahli Beni Ghazi
as they improve the block through Hassan El Ashibi and
that allowed them to build up the attacks through El
Muntaser. El Guish used again their big guns Emmanuel
Friday and Awad to win the set with the same score
25-18.
The third set showed again improved Ahli block until the
draw 5-5 when El Guish began to use the spikes of Nathan
and Mohamed Radwan and led 8-6.Again the match went
point by point till 12-12 when Radwana and Emmanuel did
a good job to regain the lead 16-12. The setter of Ahly
Majed Al Bess couldn’t set away from the approach of
Guish block and thus the Egyptian team won 25-20.
Al Ahly vs. Sonel
With unstable performance Ahly of Egypt defeated Sonel
of Cameroon 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-17, 25-18) in 72
minutes. Al Ahly started the match aggressively till
they won the first set when the performance acutely
dropped to allow Sonel to enter the match and draw 1-1
before they regained the rhythm to win two successive
sets and the match 3-1. Al Ahly became 1-0 in the
records of Pool C to come second after Esperance who
leads the pool through the point ratio.
Al Ahly started the match with a mixture of the
experienced players like Hamdy El Safy and Ahmed Salah
with the young players like the setter Hossam Youssef
and the center Abdel Latif Othman, while Sonel played
with their outstanding line up. After a group of spikes
from both teams Al Ahly led the set comfortably till
they won the set 25-19.
In the second set Sonel used the strong spike services
of William Wabo and Nichev Monkam to lead 8-5 and then
increased the point deficit to 11-7. Sonel used the well
the disturbed back line defense of Al Ahly to continue
leading 16-11 and 19-12. Ahly coach made some
substitutions to save the set as he played with the
other setter Mohamed Mahdi and thus the score improved
to 21-18 for Sonel. Sonel continued their steady
performance to win the set 25-22.
Al Ahly performance improved in the third set specially
in blocking through Hossam Shaarawy to lead 8-5 at the
first technical time out (FTT). Again Sonel started to
use the efficient spikes of Wabo and Victor Bone but Al
Ahly arranged their backline defense to lead 16-9. Al
Ahly used the spikes of Mahmoud Raouf and El Safi to
continue leading till they won the set 25-17.
In the fourth set Al Ahly continued their good
performance as they used the strong hits of El Safi and
Ahmed Salah to lead 8-5. As the backline defense of
Sonel improved they decreased the point deficit
gradually to 14-12. Mahdi led the combinations of Al
Ahly by the net to regain the wide point deficit till
they won the set 25-18.
FAP vs. GSU
In the show of the day GSU of Kenya clinched an
important victory over FAP 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 21-25,
29-27) in 100 minutes of thriller action. GSU was the
prominent side as they used the efficient David Kebenfi
and Bernard Musumba to penetrate FAP defense. The highly
motivated coach Moses Epoloto fielded the setter Stephen
Nbungu who did well along the match with his successful
combinations. The big favorites for a semifinal slot GSU
becomes 1-0 in records of Pool D, while FAP Becomes 0-1.
Esperance vs. Al Saggana
Esperance of Tunisia swept Al Saggana of Sudan 3-0
(25-10, 25-13, 25-16) in a one side game in 60 minutes
although the Tunisian champions played with the
substitutes. Esperance record becomes 1-0 in Pool C,
while Al Saggana 0-1. Although the Tunisian squad is
star studded with 7 players previously played in the
World championships, the head coach Nicola Matsedevic
used most of the bench players to clinch the easy
victory.
Day 2 Program
16:00 Ahly Tripoli (Libya) vs. GSU (Kenya)
16:00 Daim Hamad (Sudan) vs. El Guish (Egypt)
18:00 Sonel (Cameroon) vs. Esperance (Tunisia)
18:00 Al Ahly (Egypt) vs. Al Saggana (Sudan)
20:00 Zamalek (Egypt) vs. VC Force (RD Congo)
Photo caption
Dr. Elwani honors the guest of honor
Nathan of El Guish spiking against Ahly Beni Ghazi
Traditional dance in the opening ceremony
Ahly of Egypt in time out.
Mr. Ghzali, Hassan Ahmed and Mrs. Mondy in the jury
table
Swehli team (Libya)
Big attendance of spectators
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