2007 All Africa Games:- Blida, Algeria,
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Final
Egypt Men and Algeria Women Gold Medalists
 Blida, Algeria, July 22, 2007-: Egypt men’s volleyball team and Algeria Women became the 2007 All Africa Games Gold medalists following their victory in the finals over Tunisia and Cameroon respectively here at Moustafa Tchaker hall in Blida, Algeria on Sunday.  Egypt men took the revenge from Tunisia after they lost against that team in the pool match, as the Egyptian defended their title achieved in Abuja 2003 and defeated their arc rivals in a fantastic final.
 Algeria women team succeeded to add their second ever volleyball women gold medal at the women’s category when they clinched a respected victory over the emerging Cameroon team. The gold medal for Algeria was the second after they had got the same in the third all Africa games at their homelands also in 1978.
 In the bronze medal matches Kenya men lost the chance of bringing up the first ever African Men’s medal and lost narrowly against the organizers Algeria. The Kenyan women won the bronze medal easily when they defeated the new comers Seychelles.
 The final matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, CAVB Vice presidents, Mr. Tubby Reddy, Mr. Luis Timba, Mr. Baba Sy and Algerian Federation President Mr. Okba Gougam.
Men’s Competition
 Egypt succeeded to keep the gold medal of All Africa Games at home as they swept Tunisia 3-1 (21-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-19) in 89 minutes. Tunisia started by the strong spike service of the setter Seifeddine Lemjid to lead 3-0, but quickly started to arrange their reception and they build up the attacks to draw and then lead 8-6 at the FTT through the effective spikes from the Egyptian opposite Ahmed Salah. Tunisia started to use the wing spiker Khalid Belaid in his spikes from position 4 and thus they came near again till the draw 17-17. When the teams reached the draw 21-21, Tunisian coach pushed the good server Sami Sellami who served four spikes that ended the set for Tunisia 25-21.  
 In the second set Egypt arranged again their reception and the setter Abdalla Abdel Salam started to distribute his setting in all net positions and that was used by the team captain Hamdy El Safi and Ahmed Salah efficiently till Egypt led 8-5 at the FTT. The Tunisian wing spiker Khalid Belaid did a good job in spiking from position 4, but soon the Egyptian block of Hossam Shaarawy and that allowed Egypt to lead 16-11 at the STT. Egypt arranged their backline defense against the Tunisian attacks and through the strong spikes of Saleh Fathy they comfortably won the set 25-16.
 The third set started point by point between the two teams as both teams’ blockers were disciplined until Egypt led 8-5 by the strong spikes of Mohamed Abdel Moneim. The Tunisian centre Bilel Ben Hassine did well in block to bring the draw 10-10. Ahmed Salah appeared again with his unstoppable spikes to allow Egypt to lead 16-12. Again Tunisia tried to use their spike service to catch the score but the considerable Egyptian defense and the adjusted block allowed Egypt to finish the duty and win the set 25-20.
 The fourth set went the same like the third as it began competitive, but afterwards Egypt dominated through the field through their spikers Ahmed Salah, Saleh Fathy and Hamdy El Safi to win the set and the match
 Algeria fought for more than two hours in front of big spectator attendance to take over the solid Kenyan team 3-2 (26-24, 22-25, 23-25, 27-25, 15-13) to gain the Bronze medal. The superb Kenyan team was near to win his first ever men’s medal in volleyball competition when they missed 2 match points in the fourth set before leading also 8-4 in the tiebreak when the Algerians came on time to win the strongest match in the competition. The Algerian team started the match eager to win to stay on the final podium of the competitor, so they began in an offensive way using all the strong attackers led by Mahdi Hachemi and Ali Kerboua. The Kenyan team was motivated to achieve the first ever Medal in Men’s national level, so the match was very interesting in the first set as Algeria was leading 8-6, then 16-14. Afterwards Kenya returned back to their strong attackers specially Philip Mayo, the competition best scorer to lead 24-23. The Algerian experience came on time when Hachemi finalized the situation to his team 26-24.
 Kenya was better in the second set as they deployed their solid block to stop the Algerian attacks. They also improved their backline defense through the efficient libero Jeremiah Rotich so they succeeded to build up the attacks through Maiyo and Wakoli Tali. After Algeria led 8-5 in the FTT, Kenya started to lead 2 to 3 points till they won the set 25-22.
 In the third set Algeria began to use the middle blockers to spike through the fast attacks so they led at the start, but Kenya quickly arranged their block to lead for the first time in the set 16-15 at the STT. Algeria tried to use the wing spikers, but Kenya arranged well their block and had successful attacks through Maiyo and Denis Mokua to win the set 25-23.
 In the fourth set the Algerians changed the strategy and used the fast attacks through the centers to lead until they led 16-15 when the Kenyan team started also to use the centers in fast attacks also to lead many times until they had the match point 24-23. the Algerian coach used the substitute setter Hassan Sola in service to bring the difficult victory 27-25 to equalize the result and extend the match to tie break.
 In the tie break Algeria led 2-0 due to the hits of Hachemi, and then Kenya regained their attacking rhythm through Musumba and Maiyo to shift the court at 8-4. Algeria tired again to save the match through the proper block and the strong spikes through Kerboua and Mohamed Chekhi to obtain the first draw 11-11. Algeria succeeded to win the last critical points to win the tiebreak 15-13 and the exciting match 3-2.
Women competition
 The Algerian Women team achieved the second gold medal in the history of their women’s volleyball after they took over the surprising Cameroon team 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 16-25, 25-16) in 92 minutes. The Algerian team was better in all volleyball skills specially the attackers as the team superstars Faiza Tsabet and Narimane Madani reached to their peak performance with the middle blockers Mouni Abdelrahim and Lydia Olumou who were the team scorers with 14 points. Cameroon players lost their concentration in many parts of the match except the center Avebe Minsili who was the match scorer with 15 points.
 The Algerian team started with very high motivations aided by the home spectators. Cameroon used their big gun Rebecca Ngo and the center Ruth Diboue to lead until they reached to 7-4, Algeria arranged their combinations which were directed by the skilful setter Fatima Oukazi to lead for the first time 9-8. Algeria used the efficient spiker Faiza Tsabet to spike from all the net positions aided by the solid block of Lydia Oulmou to reach to 16-13 by the STT. Algeria continued the same rhythm to win the set 25-17.
 The second set showed improvement in Cameroon performance in the first few points when they arranged their block through Diboue and Avebe Minsili. Algeria started to use the wing spiker Narimane Madani who was very talent with her left hand spikes which allowed Algeria to lead 16-13. Algeria succeeded to control the net through the better block and their superstar Faiza did her job as usual to finish the set with one of her unstoppable hits 25-.
 The third set showed better performance for Cameroon team as they used their spike services of Ngo and Dibou. The Algerian team fell into many reception and digging mistakes which allowed Cameroon to lead 20-14. again Ngo Nkot did  a great job to win the set 25-16 and improve the result to 2-1 for Algeria.
 Algeria regained the rhythm in the fourth set when they deployed their well known block to strop Cameroon hits. The impermeable block with the efficient spikes of Narimane and Faiza allowed Algeria to lead 8-4 and 16-8. Cameroon players became more disturbed and failed to stop the Algerian attacks form all positions  
 Kenya Women team kept the position they took in the last Games in Abuja 2003 when they defeated Seychelles 3-0 25-14, 25-19, 25-13 in 54 minutes to win bronze medal match. The Kenyan team was much better all through the match due to the experience of their players as well as their better performance specially the team captain Docoras Ndasaba who was the match scorer with 16 points. Although the Kenyans who the reigning African nations champions were depressed to play for the bronze medal they used their experience and the least effort to achieve the win over the younger team.
 
 
Final Ranking
Men competition
  1. Egypt
  2. Tunisia
  3. Algeria
  4. Kenya
Women competition
  1. Algeria
  2. Cameroon
  3. Kenya
  4. Seychelles


                                            

By Tarek Al Adwar CAVB Press Officer
Confederation Africana De Volleyball © 2002-2006