2007 Men's African Nations Championship:

Day Three

South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Cameroon near to semifinal spot

 Durban, South Africa, September 19, 2007-: All the big forces including the organizers South Africa, the defending champions Egypt, the last competition runner up Tunisia and The big contenders Cameroon achieved thriller victories over Rwanda Botswana, Kenya and Mozambique respectively in the third day of the sixteenth Men’s African Nations Championship here at Durban, South Africa. The organizers secured their first ever semifinal ticket in this competition which will qualify the winner to the 2007 World Cup in JapanTunisia v KenyaNot even the presence of master blaster, Philip
Maiyo who is a constantthorn in the side of any team that he faces could stop the Tunisians fromregistering a straight sets win (25-20;25-22; 25-19).Tunisian skipper and mercurial playmaker, the left handed Guidara Ghazikept the pressure on the Kenyans by his expert delivery of quality setsthat allowed his attackers put points on the board. Even when the
Kenyansthreatened to force the Tunisians onto the back foot to test their mettle,Guidara's men did not panic and simply stepped up their offensive play tokeep their opponents at bay. With back to back defeats to the Egyptiansand Tunisia the Kenyans have effectively ruled themselves out of thesemi-final stage.Tunisia face Botswana on Wednesday before they square up to the defendingchampions, Egypt on Thursday. The Egypt-Tunisia round robin encounter isbeing billed as a dress rehearsal for the final on Saturday at theUniversity of Kwa Zulu Natal's Westville Campus Sports Centre.

Egypt v BotswanaThe tightly contested opening set (25-23) in the encounter between Egyptthe defending champions and the vastly improved Botswana team gave thelatter some hope of turning the tables on the North African giants involleyball. When the Egyptians reverted to their normal technicallysuperior game the wheels seemed to fall off from under their challengers.A (25-10) thrashing in the second set sent a timely reminder to the teamfrom Botswana that the Egyptians were 'not taking any prisoners' as theyunleashed their venom on them. While it was clearly evident that the Egyptians were in no danger oflosing the match they opted to put into practice other attacking optionsthat dazzled the fans and brought respectful nods from the opposition.Every time an Egyptian attacker pounded the floor the crowd responded withloud cheers that lifted the morale of the favourites.Whenever Botswana crept close to the Egyptian score they were stopped dead in their tracks by well timed blocks that took the wind out of thesail of their opponents.Although Botswana sparkled from time to time it was not enough to
unsettlethe might of the team from the land of the Pharoahs.

Cameroon v Mozambique Mozambique dubbed the 'whipping boys' of the tournament lost yet anothermatch when Cameroon thrashed them in straight sets (25-22; 25-12; 25-11)that bundled them out of the championship.The encounter that has gripped the attention of the local fans is the upcoming clash between host nation, South Africa and Cameroon to determinewho will head group A. South Africa v Rwanda South Africa's wily Egyptian born coach, Hamid El Wassimy put his faithon attackers, Thokozani Ntuli and vice captain, Freedom Chiya to book histeam's place in
the semi-finals. The attackers did not disappoint theircoach as they courageously fought to stay alive in their monumentalencounter against a team that has a reputation for silencing theiropponents with an explosive offensive strategy. However the SouthAfricans gained the upper hand when they captured the first set with a(25-19) score
line.Refusing to roll over and play dead, the Rwandans who almost defeatedCameroon in a five set thriller the previous day levelled matters(1-1)bywinning the second set(25-22). With both teams going for each other's jugular the crowd salivated formore of the awesome action. A few heart stopping moments sent shivers downthe spine of the local fans who stood by their players even when the chipswere down. The South Africans surged ahead when they won the third setwith a (25-22) score line. Coach Wassimy became a worried man when thehard hitting Rwandans once again levelled the scores(2-2)when theyregistered a nail biting (25-23)win in the fourth set.The battle lines were drawn in the 'do or die' 5th set as both teams threwcaution to the wind and pounded each other to put quick points on theboard.SA middle blocker, Sugen Govender's solid blocking at crucial timesspurred his team mates to join in the actionand put the squeeze on
theRwandans.With the scores locked at (12-12), it was the South Africans who surgedahead to claim victory with a (15-13) score line.

By Donovan Nair, South Africa Volleyball Fed. Press Officer.