Day 3

Algeria and Kenya teams continued their clear sheet, Cameroon stars of the day

 Blida, Algeria, July 16, 2007-: The Algerian and Kenyan teams kept their record without any defeat in both men’s and women’s categories at the end of the third day of the volleyball competition of the ninth All Africa Games here at both Moustafa Tchaker and Lysee Sportif halls in Blida, Algeria on Monday. Both countries won their matches to lead their pools and become near a second round spot. On the other hand the defending champions of the men’s competition Egypt continued their victories while Cameroon men were the stars of the day after their thriller victory over the resistant Nigeria in the best match of the day.

 In men’s competition the hosts Algeria pulled of a difficult victory over the well disciplined South African team 3-0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-14) to continue their leading to Pool A without a defeat. Although South Africa deployed their solid block of Webster Helabathy and Thokozani Ntuli, and used their big gun Freedom Chiya, they couldn’t control the efficient hits of the Algerian players who were highly motivated by the home crowd. The French based professional Mahdi Hachemi and the wing spikers Ali Kerboua were the match stars. Algeria achieved their third victory in there matches to become 3-0 in win loss ratio. South Africa dropped to 1-2 in three matches.

 The defending champions, Egypt men continued their winning rhythm and defeated Botswana in straight sets 25-12, 25-18, 25-13 in Pool B. The winners used the right attacker Ahmed Salah and the tall centers to do the duty as early as possible waiting for the match against their arch rivals Tunisia on Wednesday. Egypt raised their win loss ratio to 3-0 and their points to 6. Botswana dropped to 0-3 in this pool.

 Tunisia men did the same in Pool B when they swept Senegal 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-20) in 67 minutes to achieve their third victory in a raw and equalize the Egyptians at the top of the pool with 6 points a 3-0 record. The winners were superior in all net actions and used their strong spikers specially Khalid Belaid to score many points from position 4.

 It was really the match of the day when Cameroon defeated Nigeria 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19) in 2 hours of thriller action and after a great show of powerful hits from all positions. After Cameroon won 2 sets and looked as if it is going to a straight sets victory, Nigeria came to the match effectively to win the third set and struggled in the fourth set through their strong attacker Eni Chike. The Cameroon duo Patrice Ndaki and Eruaga hassan did very well with their rockets sent from all positions with the match scorer Totouuom Tatsi who scored 16 points. Cameroon raised the win loss ratio to 2-1 and the last competition silver medalists Nigeria dropped to 0-3 and lost the hopes of being between the final 4 teams in the semis.   

 In pool A, Kenya men succeeded to make it 3 of 3 when they achieved their third victory in a raw over Ghana 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-19) after a superior performance specially from the strong opposite Philip Mayo who was the match superstar and also the best scorer with 23 points and aided by the wing spikers Elphas Biwott and Onsomu Mokila who used their unstoppable hits. Kenya raised their win loss ratio to 3-0 and led Pool A with 6 points. Ghana dropped to 0-3 and came at the bottom of the pool with 3 points.

 Seychelles rebounded from one set behind to achieve a 3-1 victory over Congo (25-27, 25-13, 25-23, 25-19). Congo used their arranged backline defense to win the first set before seychelles improved their block to stop their opponent’s attacks and win three successive sets.

Women competition

 In Women’s competition, the queens of Africa, Kenya set their third victory in a raw over the emerging Tunisian team 25-21, 25-19, 25-14 in 72 minutes in pool B. The Kenyans spikers specially the match scorer Docoras Ndasaba and Jackline Barasa appeared with high performance to penetrate the Tunisian block and achieve the victory that made the last African nations champions near a semifinal spot. The Tunisian young girls tried to do their best against the more experienced Kenyan players as the promising star Nihel El Ghoul was one of the match stars but they failed to sustain to receive their first defeat in Pool B. Kenya led the pool with 6 points from 3-0 record while Tunisia have 5 points and dropped to 1-2.  

 The Algerian women team continued the success of the home teams in both men’s and women’s categories and kept them without defeats when they downed Seychelles 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-18) in 72 minutes. The Algerians dominated the match through their efficient spikes of Faiza Tsabet and Zohra Bensalem and the skillful setting of Fatima Oukazi. Faiza was the match scorer with 16 points to compete for the competition best scorer. The victory kept the hosts at the top of Pool A with three victories and without dropping a set. Seychelles dropped to 1-1 in 2 matches.

 In a match full of rallies and exciting performance the highly efficient Cameroon women won the critical points in each set to defeat Nigeria in straight sets 26-24, 25-14, 26-24 in 79 minutes in Pool B. Nigeria led many times in the first and third sets due to the efficient spikes of their star Esther Dusu, but Cameroon women won all the critical points to bring the match in straight sets. The winner reached their peak performance in the third set when they scored 5 successive points to turn the score from 21-24 to win 26-24 after saving 3 set points. The most prominent Cameroon superstars were Ruth diboue and Rebecca Ngo who scored 14 points each. Cameroon continued their serial victories to raise their win- loss ratio to 3-0. The defending champions Nigeria became 0-3.

 After losing twice in the first two competition days the last silver medalists Egypt achieved their first victory over Senegal 3-0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-23) in 58 minutes in Pool B. The Egyptians improved in reception and digging and thus they succeeded to build up the attacks through Ingy El Shamy and Sherihan Sameh. Egypt improved their win loss ratio to 1-2, while Senegal dropped to 0-3.

 The promising South Africa women’s team overpowered Ethiopia 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-23) in 97 minutes. The winners were more active specially in spiking and blocking which made them superior in all actions throughout the match. The victory was the second for South Africa in 2 matches to raise their record to 2-0 and compete for a ticket in the semifinal. Ethiopia dropped to 0-3.

17/07/2007: Day off

Day 4 programme 18/07/2007

Hall Mustapha Tchaker                                           Hall Lycée Sportif

10H.00    37 D B Cameroon - Kenya                            38 D A Seychelles - Ghana

12H.00    39 H B Cameroon – Botswana                      40 H A Congo - Kenya

14H.00    41 D B Egypt – Nigeria                                 42 D B Tunisia - Senegal

16H.00    43 H B Egypt – Tunisia                                 44 H B Senegal - Nigeria

18H.00    45 D A South Africa - Algeria                   

20H.00    47 H A Ghana - Algeria                                 48 H A South Africa –Seychelles