2007 Men's African Nations Championship:


Egypt victory in the eyes of South African Press

Those who wrote off Egypt after they were (2-0) down (15-25; 25-27) and staring at defeat against arch rivals, Tunisia in the final of the 16th African Nations Cup for men played at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal’s Westville Campus Sports Centre in Durban, South Africa, over the weekend were made to eat their words as the Egyptians bounced back to win the breath taking encounter with a hard fought 3 sets to 2.

Unfazed by the 2-0 deficit and sticking to their game plan, the defending champions started the crucial 3rd set with guns blazing. The architect of “Operation Fight –Back” for Egypt was their mercurial playmaker, Abdalla Ahmed whose magical fingers became the launching pad for his attack force. Africa’s number one attacker, Ahmed Saleh stepped up to lead the ‘blitz-krieg’ against Tunisia who immediately made hurried changes to their game plan in an attempt to douse the Egyptian flame.

Bullet service and crowd pleasing rallies became the order of the day as the Pharaohs took charge of the match through Abdalla Ahmed ,Mohammed Elnafrawy, Saleh Youssef and the unstoppable hitter, Ahmed Saleh whose efforts were rewarded with a well deserved (25-22) win.

The tightly contested 4th set was an absolute delight for the local fans. The scintillating total power game which is the hall mark of the North Africans is seldom witnessed in Sub-Saharan Africa. The fans lapped up every bit of the action and responded with thunderous applause. Tunisian playmaker, Ghazi Guidara (best setter) and Hichem Kaabi (the tournament’s highest point's scorer) slowed down the Egyptians march to capturing the 4th set which would force the encounter into a deciding 5th set.

Refusing to accept a Tunisian fight back, Ahmed Saleh chose to direct his bullet attacks over the smaller block of setter, Ghazi Guidara that restored Egypt’s lead.

With a slender one point lead, the 4th set could have gone either way. At (22-21) in Egypt’s favour the set became a contest between Ahmed Saleh and Tunisia’s most powerful attacker, Hichem Kaabi.

Saleh who picked up the accolade of the best attacker of the tournament rose to the occasion and closed proceedings with a (25-22) score line.

Like the Egyptian army marching to victory in the Sinai Desert during the October 1973 War, Ahmed Saleh and Abdalla Ahmed blasted their way past the Tunisians to secure an unsurpassable (10-4) lead.

Amazing rallies and rocket service set the court alight. When master blaster Saleh, at crucial times cleverly disguised his power attacks to soft touches into open spaces, it caught the Tunisians off guard and put quick points on the board. Refusing to accept defeat the Tunisians started a fight back through Kaabi which was rudely cut short when Saleh stepped up to fire his trade mark bullet spikes from position 2 that sealed the set with a (15-9) score line to lift the coveted silverware for the second time in a row.

The win has secured Egypt a place as the African Continent’s sole representative in the FIVB World Champi onship scheduled to take place in Japan in November this year.



By Donovan Nair, In Durban, South Africa