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2007 Women’s
African Nations Championship
Nairobi,
Kenya, |
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News Teams Results
Standings
Photos Match schedule
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Day Two
Second Victory for the
organizers, Cameroon and Egypt start the victory rhythm
 Nairobi,
Kenya, September 6, 2007-: The Host team and the defending
champions Kenya became the only team to achieve their second
victory in a raw in the second day of the 16th Women’s African
Nations Championship here at Moi International Sports Centre in
Kasarani, Nairobi- Kenya on Thursday. The big favorites for the
title defeated Uganda while the big contenders for the crown
Egypt achieved their first victory in their first match over
Senegal as they were in a rest in the opening day. Cameroon
survived after losing in the opening to clinch their first
victory over Botswana and the same for South Africa who improved
a lot to defeat Rwanda.
It is well known that the competition will be qualifying for the
prestigious FIVB event, the 2007 World Cup in Japan next
November.
 The
matches were attended by Control Committee President Mr. Tom
Omongole, who expressed his gratitude to Kenya for the good
organization after the last minute withdrawal of Kenya
Volleyball, CAVB Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy, Kenya
volleyball Federation President Mr. Waithaka Kioni, Kenya vice
president Joseph Tanui and CC members Mr. Jacob Owiti and Mr.
Salamba.
The biggest favorite for the crown Kenya become the first team
to achieve a second victory as they clinched a straight sets
victory (25-20, 25-12, 25-7) over the enthusiastic Ugandan team
in Pool A. Kenya raised their win- loss ratio to 2-0, while
Uganda became 0-1. The Kenyan head coach changed many positions
from the line up playing the first match but they could control
the match through the key players specially the strong attacker
Docoras Ndasaba and the emerging center blocker Diana Khisa.
Uganda played well in block and defense to decrease the point
deficit gradually till Kenya won the set 25-20. The Kenyan coach
pushed again the main setter Janet Wanja instead of Judith
Serenge and increased the attacking power by Edna Rotich and
Mercy Moim so they won the set easier 25-12. The Ugandan team
lost the motivations in the third set, while the Kenyan coach
used more of the bench players where the youngsters Asha Makuto
and Brackcides Agala who did well enough to make a wide victory
in the third set 25-7.
 Kenya
head coach, Sammy Kirongo used all his players in the list in
order to obscure some of his paper and he was happy to see them
all performing well before the more critical match in the
competition. “I have to give all the players the opportunity to
play in the first round because this will add to their
experience and also it helps to continuously change the tactics
so that in the critical matches the opponents can’t now all our
papers. Also we have to relief the outstanding players for the
next critical matches.” Kirongo said. He added that he is happy
with the performance of Makuto, Agala and the team captain
Docoras Ndasaba.
Uganda head coach Tonny Lakony was convinced with the
performance in the first set as his team fought well against a
more experienced team, but he was not happy with losing the
moral in the third set to lose with this wide range of points.
“We played a great team today and of course we can’t apply our
strategy against them.” Lakony added.
 Cameroon
rebounded from one set behind to clinch a 3-1 victory (21-25,
25-6, 25-17, 25-22) over the emerging Botswana team in pool A.
Cameroon improved their win- loss ratio to 1-1, while Botswana
dropped to 0-2. Cameroon started the match using the experienced
player Ruth Diboue and Rebecca Nkot so they led 8-6 and 16-13 in
the technical time outs. Suddenly Botswana came to the match and
succeeded to draw for the first time 16-16. The setter
Kelebogile Mahupela led Botswana by her combinations to continue
their successful attacks while Cameroon team fell into many
reception and digging mistakes to allow Botswana to win the set
25-21. Cameroon appeared with a completely different performance
in the second set and dominated the net actions completely to
win the set easily 25-6. Cameroon players took the matter
seriously in the third and fourth sets and although Botswana
played well through their center Dipolelo Nkele they succeeded
to be the dominating side to win the two successive sets and win
the match 3-1.
The favorite Egyptian team fought for 68 minutes to clinch their
competition first victory 3-1 (25-22, 30-28, 27-29, 25-21) over
the surprising Senegal team who got the sympathy of the
spectators due to their fighting all through the match. Egypt
becomes 1-0 in win- loss ratio, while Senegal dropped to 0-2.
From the start of the match Senegal players proved that they are
not an easy opponent so they stayed near Egypt and used their
promising star Niane Diouck and the other wing spiker Bineta
Ndiaye to penetrate the weak Egyptian block. Egypt came on time
in the last points to win the set 25-22. The second set showed
the best performance for the West African country that missed
three set points and thus Egypt used the experienced stars
specially the center Ingy El Shamy and the left attacker
Sherihan Sameh to win the Marathon 30-28. Egypt regained the
rhythm through the opposite Nada Nassef and the wing spiker
Noran El Maghawry who were aided by the combinations of the
setter Eman Tharwat to lead 16-7. Again Senegal players played
their utmost as Niane Diouck led her team with her unstoppable
spikes so Senegal came from 11 points behind to draw 23-23 but
this time they won the set 29-27. Senegal players became highly
motivated so they fought in the fourth set till they had the
draw 7-7. the setter Aminata Gueye did a good job in Senegal
team to stay in competition but Egypt came on time and used the
fast attacks through the center Ingy to end the set 25- 21 and
the match 3-1.
Egypt head coach Hesham Badrawy expressed that he didn’t play
with all his prominent players like Hagar Badr and Dina Assal to
save them for the coming matches. “I think Senegal team played
their best against us specially their wing spiker Niane who was
the match star. We changed the position of some key players like
Ingy and Nada so they need some time to accommodate.
Senegal head coach was cheered with his team’s performance and
with his superstar and the match scorer (32 points) Niane. “We
played a big team today and I’m happy to find my players to the
level of the match as they played their best. We need just more
experience from the continuous participation and I’m sure that
we will improve.
Cameroon Head coach Joseph Nane said that his team started the
match as winners and they didn’t respect the opponent so they
lost the first set, but when the players feels the
responsibility after losing the first set they returned back to
their performance and succeeded to end the situation to their
side. “I think we will show our quality on the proper time of
this competition, but I want to mention that Botswana is very
promising if they regularly participate in the continental
competitions.” He added.
Botswana Head coach Carlos Osta Fellove mentioned that the lack
of experience didn’t allow the players to maintain their
performance after winning the first set because Cameroon players
are more experienced with that situation. “I think my team
captain Dipolelo Nkele was the match star.” He concluded.
South Africa set their first victory over Rwanda 3-0 (25-19,
25-17, 25-14) in 58 minutes in the competition Pool B. South
Africa raised to 1-1, while Rwanda dropped to 0-2 in two matches
for both. South Africa players appeared in better performance
than their first match against Tunisia and succeeded to control
the net actions through the centers Driver Cathryn and Sandra
Lyons. They had also a good backline defense and so they
succeeded to build up the attacks properly. From the first set
the winners show good fast attacks through the efficient
attacker Palesa Sekhonyana who was the match scorer with 23
points and so they ended the set 25-19. From the second set the
South African team became faster in attacks and Palesa aided by
Patricia Moloantoa used well the combinations made by the setter
Raycine Sunker to win the set easier 25-17. Although Rwanda led
many times in the third set through strong attacks of the wing
spiker Emilienne Uwineza, South Africa regained the rhythm
quickly to win the set with a wider point deficit 25-14.
South Africa head coach, Abdel Hamid El Wassimy was glad with
the victory and the improvements in all skills with his new look
team. “I’m happy with the performance after we added 6 new
players following the competition of All Africa games. We
applied today the strategy of fast attacks to avoid the centre
block of Rwanda Nadine Iyumva and we succeeded to use the wing
spikers to get many points.” Wassimy Said. “I hope to improve
before the Olympic Qualifications next January when this group
of players gain enough experience.
Rwanda head coach, Antoine Sebalinda referred the defeat to the
bad reception and backline defense. “We will work on developing
the defense and reception in future because I think the other
skills are considerable.
Day three
Programme
Pool A
Algeria vs. Botswana
Cameroon vs. Uganda
Pool B
Tunisia vs. Rwanda
South Africa vs. Egypt
Photo Caption
Kenya team
Cameroon team
Egypt team
South Africa team |
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