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2008
Women’s junior African Nations Championship
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5 teams compete
for a World Championship Vacancy
Nairobi, Kenya, September 7, 2008- The Africa junior
women volleyball championship has attracted five top
countries after South Africa and Mauritius pulled
out as the defending champions Egypt as well as the
organizers Kenya, Tunisia, Seychelles and Senegal
will compete for the African slot in the 2009
Women’s Junior World Championship. The round robin
championship starts on Monday and ends on Friday 12
September.
With the two countries out, Confederation of African
Volleyball (CAVB) technical director Howyda Mondy
said the competition will be played on a round robin
format. That leaves five countries parading their
best talent to battle for the exclusive ticket to
represent Africa in the world championship in Mexico
City next July
The withdrawal of the two teams means that the
tournament will be played on a round robin format
with Kenya having to test their skills against all
the four opponents. The winner will them clinch the
ticket to Central America.
Mondy said that CAVB President Elwani was in
discussion with the FIVB to see if Africa can be
added another slot as a way to encourage
participation and help improve the experience and
exposure level of African teams at the world level.
However, at the moment, it is only one ticket
allocated to the continent.
President of the control committee Touria Aarab said
that the level of competition is in doubt high with
the best talent on display.
“The hospitality in Nairobi is great. The organizing
committee have done their work well and so far we
are happy, but the low turnout does not justify the
standard of the sports in the continent. I hope you
will play a role in encouraging other CAVB members
to turn up in future competitions,” said Aarab
Other than Kenya the others countries in the
championship are Egypt, Tunisia, Seychelles and
Senegal.
Kenya’s national head coach Paul Bitok said that his
side is ready for the challenge and said he has got
the best skills and talent from the local players.
Kenya is keen to mould a new generation of
volleyballers to take over from the senior team with
the 2012 Olympics being the target.
The KVF chairman, Waithaka Kioni has expressed his
ambitions to develop a young team and the Africa
junior championship, provides a best platform to
test the youngster’s ability and rank themselves
among the continent’s best.
Bitok noted that unlike the other teams, the Kenyan
players were the least exposed but they juniors were
determined to win in front of their home fans.
The defending champions Egypt comes with a
competitive team led by the experienced coach Hesham
Badrawy and had a preparation program in the last
few weeks.
Seychelles team wants to repeat their surprises when
they participated as underdogs in the last
competition in Alexandria, Egypt but finally they
succeeded to finish as runner up.
Tunisia also is a great contender for the title with
a new generation of skillful players while Senegal
repeated their regular participation in this age
category.
Match Schedule
Monday
Senegal vs Tunisia 15:00
Kenya vs Seychelles 17:00
Tuesday
Seychelles vs Senegal 15:00
Kenya vs Egypt 17:00
Wednesday
Senegal vs Egypt 15:00
Tunisia vs Seychelles 17:00
Thursday
Tunisia vs Egypt 15:00
Kenya vs Senegal 17:00
Friday
Egypt vs Seychelles 15:00
Kenya vs Tunisia 17:00
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