25th African Clubs Champions Championship:

Final
Al Ahly Champions for The Eighth Time
Durban, South Africa, March 11-: Al Ahly of Egypt clinched the title of the 25th African clubs Championship in Durban, South Africa following their thriller victory over their North African compatriot, Sfax of Tunisia in the final match held at Fred Crookes Sports complex in Durban Institute of Technology in presence of The South African Provincial Sports Minister, Amichand Rajbansi. Al Ahly increased his record of gaining the cup to 8 times since the start of the competition in 1982.
Al Ahly won the final in straight sets in 65 minutes (25-23, 25-12, 25-14) in a match appeared easier than expected due to their strong spike service. “We studied our opponent well since the start of the competition and we used this to penetrate through their weakness points in reception,” Said Ahly Head coach Nour Attia after the match. “I want to thank my players for their exceelent performance all through the competition” He added. Al Ahly and Sfax started the match with the main line up played in the last matches. The match went point by point in the start till the draw 4-4 when Sfax used the strong service of Hosni Karmosli and Mohamed Trabelsi to lead 8-6. Al Ahly used the strong spikers Ahmed salah and Hamdy El Safy to lead 8-6. They also deployed the solid block of Mohamed Elsayed and Usama Komsan to continue leading till they won the set 25-23.
The second set was the set of spike services as Al Ahly had more than half of the set points by the strong spike services of Ahmed Salah who won two individual prizes, the best server and the MVP and Mahmoud El Komy. Al Ahly led widely 8-3 and 16-9 when El Safy and Usama Komsan played a great role in using the mistakes of Tunisian players in reception. Al Ahly won the set easily 25-12.
In the third set the Tunisian players lost their motivation and continued the reception mistakes although their head coach the Serbian Milan Zarkovic made many substitutions to stop the efficient service of Ahly. Ahmed Salah and El Safy again played a great role in spiking and serving to allow Ahly to win 25-14 and gain the cup.
In the Bronze medal match Mouloudia of Algeria defeated Port Douala of Cameroon 3-1 (28-26, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22) in an exciting match lasted 89 minutes. Port started the match as the better side using the disturbed defense of Mouloudia. They kept their rhythm and led till they reached the set point through the strong spikes of Simon Noah and Herman Engalo. Mouloudia came to the set in the suitable time when they deployed their well known solid block and won the set 28-26. Mouloudia dominated the net in the second set through their stars Samir Ferad and Ali Kerboua to win the set easily 25-19. Port tried to save the match in the third set so they adjusted their back line defense and block to lead 8-6 and 14-11. Port setter Patrick Tagny began to do a good job to deceive Mouloudia’s block to keep his team pace and succeeded to lead his team to win 25-22. Mouloudia regained their high performance in net skills to lead the fourth set from the start till Port improved their defense to draw 20-20 before Mouloudia won the critical points of the set to clinch the set 25-22 and the match 3-1.
In the ranking matches K C Bank of Kenya won the 5th position following the victory over their Arch Rivals GSU 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 15-25, 25-17). KC Bank players were more motivated to pull of the victory and used their efficient spikers Philip Maiyo and Patrick Owino to penetrate the block of GSU which lack concentration. After KC Bank won the first and second sets, GSU came to the match with their prominent stars David Opiyo and Elphas Biwott to win the third set. KC Bank regained their performance to win the fourth set and the important match against their neighbors leaving them in the sixth position.
TWR of South Africa needed 59 minutes to overcome their nation side Cigma in straight sets 28-26, 25-20, 25-13 to bring the seventh position while Cigma was ranked eighth.

Al Ahly and Sfax secured final Spot
Durban, South Africa, March 10-: The defending champions, Sfax and the record holders Al Ahly secured their the expected final spot of the 25th African clubs Championship in Durban, South Africa following their thriller victories over Mouloudia of Algeria and Port Douala of Cameroon in the semifinal matches held at Fred Crookes Sports complex in Durban Institute of Technology. Al Ahly and Sfax plays Saturday in the final for the gold medal, while Mouloudia and Port Douala play for the bronze medal
Al Ahly played a superb match and didn’t allow their opponent Port Douala to enter the match except in the third set to win the match 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 29-27) in 66 minutes. In the first set Al Ahly used the strong spike service of Abdalla Abdelsalam and Ahmed Salah to disturb Port defense and put them in a frequent pressure which led them to commit mistakes in reception and build up of the attacks. Al Ahly led from the start 8-3, 16-8 then they ended the set with a group of spikes from Hamdy El Safy and Mahmoud Raouf.
The second set went the same due to proper setting from Abdalla Abdel Salam to his colleagues and the solid block of Usama Komsan and Mohamed El Sayed. Al Ahly led all through the set to win easily 25-14.
The third set was most interesting of the day as Port team used the big gun Simeon Noah to penetrate the hesitated Ahly block and thus Port led many times 16-13 and 23-19 after they also improved their back line defense. Ahly players came again on time to the match after many substitutions in the line up so they got the draw 24-24 and reached the match point three times before ending the set narrowly 29-27.
After the most interesting match in the competition till now Sfax of Tunisia clinched a difficult victory over Mouloudia of Algeria in a five sets thriller 3-2 (22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 15-9). Mouloudia started the match with higher motivations and dominated the net action through strong spikers Samir Ferad and Ali Keboua to lead from the start till they reached to 16-14. Sfax came to the match through the setter Samir Sellami and the Serbian Dragan Ristic to come near, but the better Algerian side won the set 25-22. The second set showed the reverse as Sfax showed much improvement in blocking through Ashraf Benhalima and Mohamed Trabelsi and this allowed the Tunisian team to stop the attacks of Mouloudia and win the set 25-14 easily and bring the match to draw. Sfax continued their high performance in the third set as Karmosli became more concentrating and this led the Tunisians to win the set 25-21 after a srugglinf from Mouloudia
The performance of both teams reached to a thrilling level in the fourth set as the Algerians used again their strong spikers Kerboua, Ferad and Rafik Tirsatine to lead 8-6. Sfax players fell in many reception and digging mistakes to allow Mouloudia to continue leading till they won the set 25-22 and extend the match to tie break.
Sfax led in the tie break using the strong spike service of team captain Sellami 3-0, and then quickly Mouloudia bring the draw through the spikes of Kerboua 3-3. Sfax increased their activity through Ristic and Fouad Louakil to lead and in the same time Mouloudia players fell in many mistakes to allow Sax to get the difficult victory in the tie break 15-9 and the match 3-2
In the semifinal of 5-8 positions, the Kenyan teams had double victories over the South African when both KC Bank and GSU swept TWR and Cigma respectively
KC Bank of Kenya used the strong spikers Patrick Owino and Philip Maiyo by the net to clinch a rapid victory over TWR of South Africa 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-22) in 56 minutes. The Kenyans were superior in all volleyball skills and used both the strong blocks and backline defense enough to have the easy victory.
In the second match the wing spikers David Opiyo and Elphas Biwott succeeded to use the skillful setting by the Stephen Ndungu to hit the defense of Cigma and win the match in straight sets 25-23, 25-14, 25-18. It took 61 minutes from GSU to achieve the victory specially that they used the fast play in attacks that helped them to penetrate the undisciplined Cigma’s defense and grip the victory.
The two Kenyan teams GSU and KC Bank will meet on Saturday for the fifth and sixth positions, while the two South African teams TWR and Cigma play for the seventh and eighth positions.

By Tarek Al Adwar from Durban, South Africa

 Day Three
Al Ahly, Sfax, Mouloudia and Port to Semifinal Spot
Durban, South Africa, March 8-: After a day of thriller performance attracted big home crowd in both competition venues, Defending champions Sfax of Tunisia, the record holder Al Ahly of Egypt, Mouloudia of Algeria and Port Douala of Cameroon qualified to the semifinal spot of the 25th African clubs Championship in Durban, South Africa each ending the preliminary round as top of its pool. Al Ahly meets Port Douala of Cameroon in the semifinal on Friday while Sfax meets Mouloudia in another North African show.
In Pool A and in front of the spectators supporting the Organizer TWR (South Africa), Port Douala win the exciting match of semifinal qualification 3-1 (26-24, 22-25, 25-15, 26-24) using the outstanding players El Hadj Abbas, Fossi Kamto and Djoby Martial.
Inter of Congo RD penetrated the defense of Red Skins of Lesotho easily to win 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-8).
Port Douala led Pool A with 6 points from three victories to qualify to the semifinal ahead of the organizers TWR coming second with 5 points to play for positions 5-8. Inter comes third with 4 points then Red Skins fourth 3 points.
Sfax of Tunisia used the big stars as usual to pull of their third victory in a raw over DIT of South Africa in Pool B. Hosny Karmosly and Mohamed Trabelsi were the stars of the winner and led the team to bring the victory.
In front of big spectator attendance most from the school students, Cigma of South Africa found it easy to use the disturbed performance of Daim Hamad of Sudan and bring a straight sets victory (25-23, 25-17, 25-23). The team captain and South African national team player Freedom Chiya led Cigma, the better side from the first set with his skillful spikes from position 4 aided by the efficient setter Graant Goldschmidt. Although Daim Hamad of Sudan was competitive in first set through their solid block of Merial Kozal and Khalid Omar, Cigma was better in the critical points of each set.
Sfax led Pool B with 6 points from three victories and qualified to the semifinal ahead of Cigma which comes second with 5 points to play for the 5-8 positions. Daim Hamad and DIT came third and fourth respectively.
Al Ahly came from one set behind to clinch a 3-1 victory over the KC Bank of Kenya (19-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-20) in the competition Pool C. KC Bank players appeared in top form in the first set specially Patrick Owino and Philip Mayo who penetrated the weak defense of their opponent and used the bad performance of Al Ahly to win the first set 25-19. Al Ahly players regained their performance after they improved their reception and block. They used the strong hits of the team star Ahmed Salah to win three successive sets.
“We didn’t play well today because we had a concentrated training this morning which affected our performance,” Said Al Ahly coach, Nour Attia. “My players also didn’t take the match seriously so we lost the first set by our mistakes, then we recovered after to win three successive sets. But the most important now is that we qualified to the semifinal to continue our objective towards the title.” He added.
In the same pool APR of Rwanda defeated Cosfa of Congo RD in the day’s only tie breaker (22-25, 21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 17-15). Cosfa with their surprise performance won the first two sets due to the high performance of Nasamaison and Lova Alady, but APR came to the match in the thirds set as they improved their block and back line defense against the attaches of Cosfa through Eric Nsabimana and Kumuyange to win three successive sets after thriller performance.
Al Ahly led the pool with 6 points from three victories to qualify to the semifinal ahead of KC Bank 5 points which will play for the 5-8 positions, then APR comes third 4 points and Cosfa 3 points.
Mouloudia of Algeria continued their winning rhythm and achieved their third victory over Onatra of Congo RD 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-17). The Algerian team used the tall players by the net to dominate the match all through.
In the same pool GSU defeated Academica of Mozambique 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 25-9). These results put Mouloudia on the top of the pool with 6 points to become the last semifinal qualifiers ahead of GSU 5 points which play for positions 5-8. Onatra came third with 4 points and Academica fourth 3 points.

 

Al Ahly and Sfax set second victory

Durban, South Africa, March 7-: the favorites Al Ahly of Egypt, Sfax of Tunisia, Mouloudia of Algeria and Port Douala of Cameroon and TWR of South Africa clinched their second victory in a raw in the second day of the 25th African clubs Championship in Durban, South Africa. The winners cut a long road towards the semifinal spot which will feature the top of the four preliminary pools.
It took only 54 minutes for Al Ahly to pull off an easy victory over the much less experienced Cosfa players of Madagascar 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 25-14) in Pool C. Al Ahly started the match with most of the standing players and used the spikes of Hamdy El Safy and Ahmed Salah to lead in the first set 8-2 using the weak backline defense of Cosfa team. Although Madagascar team did their best in block to stop their opponent hits, they couldn’t decrease the technical deficit and lost 25-13 in 18 minutes.
In the second set Al Ahly Coach Nour Attia made many changes as usual to give the chance to his players and continued the same rhythm to win 25-14 in 17 minutes. Cosfa struggled in the third set using the spikes of Rija Rasamison and the block of Andry Rakoto but Al Ahly players were much better in all volleyball skills to win the set 25-14 and the match in straight sets.
Sfax used the strong front line players to achieve their second victory over Dim Hamad of Sudan 3-0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-16) in Pool B of the competition. The team captain, Samir Sellemi played a great role in this victory with his strong spike service and the efficient setting to his strong wing spikers Foad Loukil, Mohamed Trabelsi and Ashraf Ben Halima. Dim Hamad tried to use the tall players by the net specially Khalid Omar and Merial Kozal and did well specially in the first set but finally the experience and the better performance settled the situation for Sfax.
In Pool A Port Douala of Cameroon appeared with a high performance enough to set the second victory over Red Skins of Lesotho in straight sets 25-14, 25-19, 25-17 after better performance than their appearance in the first match. The team captain Diesse Tangny and El Hadj Abbas played the most important role in this victory. Cameroon team who participated regularly in the continental championships now competes for a semifinal slot.
Mouloudia of Algeria won the most critical match in their preliminaries Pool D against the struggling GSU of Kenya who won the bronze medal in the last competition in Benin 2005. The Algerians defeated their opponent 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-10) easier than expected. With their high performance the Algerians ensured that they are big favorites with Sfax , Port and Al Ahly for the title.
In Pool A also the Organizers TWR of South Africa fought for five setters match to set their second victory over Inter club of Congo Brazzaville in a match attended by big home spectators. TWR needed 110 minutes to win in the tie break (26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-10)
In a purely South African match Cigma beats it compatriot DIT 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 16-25, 25-13) to compete for the second place in Pool B. Stewart Zhawakinyu and Marco Daniel were the stars of the winner.
KC Bank of Kenya came from one set back to achieve 3-1 victory (24-26, 25-21, 25-20, 26-24) over APR of Rwanda in Pool C. Although the Kenyan players didn’t show their actual performance till now, their stars Patrick Owino and Philip Maiyo were the stars of the team with their steady performance.
Onatra of Congo RD set their first victory over Academica of Mzambique 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 25-15) in a thriller match full of skills especially from the attackers.
Third day of Preliminary programme
Competition day three will feature eight matches in the four pools on Wednesday at the end of Preliminary round. The winners of the four pools will qualify directly to the semifinal, while the second ranked teams will play for the 5-8 Positions. In pool A the organizer TWR (South Africa) meets Port Douala (Cameroon) for the semifinal spot of the pool after both had 2 victories, while Inter club (Congo) plays Red skins (Lesotho) for the third and fourth positions in the pool.
Pool B will see Sfax (Tunisia) vs. DIT (South Africa) and Cigma (South QAfica) vs. Dim Hamad (Sudan) where the defending champions comes as favorite for the semis slot.
Al Ahly (Egypt) meets KC Bank (Kenya) in pool C where the winner gain the semifinal ticket after both had 2 victories, while APR (Rwanda) meets Cigma (South Africa) for the third and fourth positions in the pool.
In pool D Mouloudia (Algeria) comes as a great favorite for the semifinal when they play Onatra (Congo RD), while Academica (Mozambique) meets GSU (Kenya).
 

The participating countries conduct their full Support to Dr. Acosta
The Minister of sports opens the competition Monday
Durban, South Africa-: The Technical Meeting of the 25th African Clubs Champions Championship held on Sunday in Durban, South Africa turned to a ceremony of love to FIVB President Dr. Ruben Acosta. The delegations of the thirteen participating countries as well as another eight countries declared their full support to FIVB President Dr. Ruben Acosta as the only candidate for Africa to the position in the coming elections in Japan during the World Championships. The Control Committee of the competition as well as the participating teams and their officials conveyed a message of support to the man who did a lot to the sport in Africa.

The South African Provincial Sports Minister, Amichand Rajbansi will open the 25th African Clubs Champions Championship on Monday at Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) in Durban, South Africa along with the Head of Department of Sports and Recreation Mrs. Sumayya Khan in presence of a record of participating team in the history of the African club competition. The competition will be attended also by CAVB first vice president Mr. Tubby Reddy and CAVB Referee commission President Mr. Hassan Ahmed. Sixteen teams will take part in the competition representing 13 countries led by the defending champions, Sfax of Tunisia and the previous 2003 and 2004 champions Al Ahly. The organizing country will be represented by three clubs; Wits Tech, Wtsap and Cigma.

The competition will show also the participation of some big clubs like Mouloudia of Algeria, the winners in 1988, the bronze medalist of the last competition GSU and KC Bank from Kenya, Inter club from Congo Brazzaville, Academica of Maputo from Mozambique, Red Skin from Lesotho, Cosfa from Madagascar, Port volley from Cameroon, Dim Hamad from Sudan and National Office of Transport (Onatra) from RD Congo.

Sfax, Al Ahly and Mouloudia come as the biggest favorite for the title being the most experienced teams in the competition and the only previous champions.

The African Clubs Champions Championship started in 1982 when it was hosted by Al Ahly in Cairo, Egypt under the title of African Cup of Clubs Champions. It was held in an annual basis regularly where Al Ahly gained the record of victories (seven trophies), followed by Sfax gaining 5 cups. Tunisian clubs has the record in total number of victories gaining it in 14 editions followed by Egyptian clubs 9 trophies.

“We want to see a successful competition ensuring the great progress of African volleyball under the presidency of Dr. Amr Elwani” Said Mr. Hassan Ahmed. “We want also to send our support to Dr. Ruben Acosta FIVB President for his great work for African Volleyball.” He added.

Matches of the first day:

· Pool A: Port (Cameroon) vs. Inter Club (Congo Brazzaville) – Red Skins (Lesotho) vs. TWR (South Africa).

· Pool B: Daim Hamad (Sudan) vs. DIT (South Africa)- Sfax (Tunisia) vs. Cigma (South Africa)

· Pool C: KC Bank (Kenya) vs. Cosfa (Madgascar)- APR (Rwanda) vs. Al Ahly (Egypt).

· Pool D: Onatra (Congo RD) vs. GSU (Kenya) – Academica (Mozambique) vs. Mouloudia (Algeria).