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2006 Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship:
 Final Day

Egypt champions, Tunisia second and Morocco for Bronze


Casablanca, Morocco, September 2-: The second favorites Tunisia secured the second position of the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations following their respected victory over the organizers Morocco in the fifth and final day of the competition held at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco on Friday. The victory didn’t affect the trophy for the Egyptian team who secured the cup and the African ticket to the 2007 World Championship of this age category 24 hours before. Morocco is ranked third before Algeria who came fourth following their final day victory over South Africa. The latter came at the bottom of the table.

The matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, who gave the trophy to the winners of Egypt and the silver and bronze medals for Tunisia and Algeria with the big attendances led by CAVB Vice President Mr. Tubby Reddy, competition Control Committee President Mr. Baba Sy, Morocco Volleyball Federation President Mr. Abdel Hady Ghzali, CAVB Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and Sports Organizing Committee member Mr. Ali Hassaballa and the Referee Delegate Mr. Majid Djerad.

Tunisia used as usual their big guns Marouane Garci and Karim Brini to clinch a respected victory over Morocco 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23) in 65 minutes. The organizers were affected as usual by their permeable block due to the injury of their centre blockers, which was used by the more experienced Tunisian team to get the second position with seven points leaving Morocco in the third position with 6 points.

The Tunisian Head Coach, Mohamed Mounir Gara was satisfied with the silver medal of his team and considede the final ranking is very justice. He said after the match: “Generally I’m satisfied with the final result of the competition and I think Egypt was the best team to win the cup as they have more tall players than the other teams but my team was better from the technical point of view. My players started the match very stressed to bring the second position after they lost the possibility to win the cup, but I think we improved gradually during the match till we reached our best at the end.

Morocco Head Coach, Mohamed Abdallaoui refered the third place he achieved to the impaired preparation. “I’m satisfied with the results of the competition and the bronze medal we achieved specially we had the shortage of centre blockers who were injured. According to our weak preparation programme I think we showed considerable performance.

The better Algerian team in spiking, blocking and backline defense defeated South Africa 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-20) in 59 minutes to get the fourth position leaving South Africa at the bottom of the table without any victory. The Algerian stars Nassim Tartag, Billel Soualem and Hamza Adrar with the setter Messaoud Debbih played the main role of the victory whilr the South African team was competitive only in the second set where they led several times but finally they lost due to the frequent reception and digging mistakes.

Algeria Head coach, Kaci Said sia that the critical defeat against Morocco in the openind day was the main reason for the last rank of his team. “I’m happy with my first victory but not with the final ranking as we had the capacitance to achieve better position. We came to the competition to compete for an advanced position but the defeat in the first match against Morocco in the first match affected much the potential of my players.

South Africa Head Coach, Abdelhamid Elwassimy enumerated the advantages of his team’s participation in this competition although his team came at the bottom of the ranking. He said after the match: “We came here to prepare a team for the future and to be present in such important occasions and I thing we achieved our goal although we lost all the matches. I decided to add two players of this team to the first team who are Ricky Govender and Peter Size and I will put also Clinton Stemmet and Quellin Govender under the microscopy for the future team.


Individual Prizes:

· Best Spiker 9 Marouane Garci (Tunisia)

· Best Blocker 6 Mohamed Abdel Moneim (Egypt)

· Best Server 2 Debbih Messoud (Algeria)

· Best Setter 3 Hicham Faiazid (Tunisia)

· Best Digger 4 Mohamed Meawad (Egypt)

· Best Receiver 4 Karim Brini (Tunisia)

· Best Player: 10 Mohamed Eldaabousi (Egypt)
 
 Day Four
Egypt defeated Morocco and qualified to the 2007 World Championship
Casablanca, Morocco, August 31-: The big favorites Egypt put themselves again in the World Map, qualifying to the 2007 Men’s under 21 World Championship to be held in Morocco, when they achieved their fourth victory over the Morocco in a rapid three set match in the fourth day of the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship held at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco on Thursday. The victory secured the trophy for the Egyptian team one day before the end of the competition as they led the standings with four victories out of four matches. Tunisia came second with a straight sets victory over Algeria while Morocco kept the hope for the silver medal on the fifth day when they meet Tunisia on Friday.

The matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, CAVB Vice President Mr. Tubby Reddy, competition Control Committee President Mr. Baba Sy, Morocco Volleyball Federation President Mr. Abdel Hady Ghzali, CAVB Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and Sports Organizing Committee member Mr. Ali Hassaballa and the Referee Delegate Mr. Majid Djerad.

Egypt used the high performance of the middle blockers Ahmed Aly and Mohamed Abdel Moneim and the magic state of the setter Hassam Yousef who was chosen by his coach as the match star, to achieve a straight sets victory over the Organizers and defending champions Morocco 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 in 64 minutes. Morocco team was affected by the absence of the main 2 middle blockers due to injury and they couldn’t compete with Egypt on the net action which made it easy for Egypt to penetrate.

Egypt Head Coach, Sherif El Shemerly did his utmost to prepare the team in this good picture and he referred the big victory to the high performance of his setter Hossam Yousef. “In my opinion my setter was the star of the match,” Said the coach. “We know that the weakest point in Morocco team was the Middle blockers so we used our blocker to send their efficient spikes to Morocco team. We did good squatting for the opponent before the match and we used this to achieve this important victory which qualified my team to the 2007 World Championship.” He added.

Although he lost but Morocco Head Coach, Mohamed Abdallaoui was satisfied with the result because he knows that he plays a better team specially because he lost two main players. “We had a great problem before the match because we missed our best blockers Ahmed Bartaki and Kamal Ouali due to injury thus our weak point was the middle of the net which was used well by the Egyptians who are the best team in this competition and I think they are a big team that can achieve surprises in future,” Said Abdallaoui. “The biggest problem for us in this competition is that the players don’t have experience with the big competitions like the Egyptians who played in the World Championship under 19 in Algeria.” He added.

Tunisia used the strong front line players Marouane Garci and Karim Brini and the skillful setter Amine Zouaoui to set the competition second victory over Algeria 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 26-24) in 68 minutes. Tunisia was the better side in all volleyball skills and used this technical dominance to widely lead in all sets except the third one which was the most competitive in the match when the Algerians used their strong spikers Billel Soualem and Chahine Zaichi. The Tunisian coach was happy to return back to the competition with this high performance.

The competition fifth and final day will feature two important matches which determine the final standings of the competition. The organizers Morocco meets Tunisia in one of expected tough matches, while Algeria plays South Africa.
Day Three
 

Egypt set third victory over their compatriots Tunisia in the way to World Championship slot

Casablanca, Morocco, August 30-: The big favorites Egypt achieved a respected victory over their Arch Rivals Tunisia in a match full of thrills and considered the best till now in the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship held at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco on Wednesday. The victory put Egypt at the top of the standing at the end of the competition third day that featured also an expected victory for the organizers Morocco over the outsiders South Africa. Morocco came second in the table with two victories in two matches.

The matches were attended by CAVB Vice President Mr. Tubby Reddy, competition Control committee President Mr. Baba Sy, Morocco Volleyball Federation President Mr. Abdel Hady Ghzali, CAVB Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and Sports Organizing committee member Mr. Ali Hassaballa and the Referee Delegate Mr. Majid Djerad.

The impermeable Egyptian block of Mohamed Abdel Moneim and Ahmed Ali and the unstoppable spikes of Mohamed Eldaabosi and Ramy Nahkla allowed Egypt to win the clash against their arch rivals Tunisia 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-22, 31-29) in 98 minutes of volleyball skills. Egypt came from one set behind due to weak reception to win three successive sets using the solid block that finalized the situation to their side.

Egypt Head Coach, Sherif El Shemerly referred the victory to the superior performance of his players in block and commented that this was their best ever match in blocking skills

“The most important point of our dominance was the good block that was the main factor to gain the points. My attacker also succeeded to pass the solid Tunisian block several times specially in the second and third sets.” He said. The Egyptian coach started immediately to think of his last match, “We are looking forwards now to win our last match against Morocco to achieve the cup and qualify to the 2007 World Championship.” Shemerly concluded.

The organizers Morocco used the net dominance to pull of an easy victory over South Africa 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-10) in 60 minutes of one side game except in the second set that was the most competitive for South Africa. Morocco Coach tried to use most of his squad to relief his players before the critical encounter against Egypt on Thursday.

The Moroccan coach Mohamed Abdellaoui tried to use some of the substitutes before the important match against Egypt on Thursday, but he was not satisfied with the performance. “The match went exactly as I expected as we played a team without high capabilities and so I asked my players to be serious in the match in order not to lose a set like what happened for the Egyptians. My players played to the size of the match and didn’t appear with their full capacity except the setter Hicham Faiazid.” Abdellaoui said.

South Africa Head Coach, Abdelhamid El Wassimy was not happy although he knows that his team is technically less than the other teams in the competition. “I’m disappointed with my team’s performance today because they didn’t apply my strategy except in the second set when they were near to win the set. We are not satisfied with the performance in the competition till now but this exposure is very important for our future.” He said.

The competition Day four will feature two important face of when the organizers Morocco meets Egypt while the neighbors Tunisia and Algeria meet in a thriller clash.

Day Two
The favorites Egypt and Tunisia set easy victories
Casablanca, Morocco, August 29-: The big favorites Egypt and Tunisia achieved both easy victories against Algeria and South Africa in the second day of the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco on Tuesday. Both team proved that they will compete as usual for the continental champions and hence the qualification to the 2007 FIVB World Championship of this age category. Egypt leads the table with two victories while Tunisia achieved a victory in their first match.
The matches were attended by CAVB Vice President Mr. Tubby Reddy, competition Control committee President Mr. Baba Sy, Morocco Volleyball Federation President Mr. Abdel Hady Ghzali, CAVB Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and Sports Organizing committee member Mr. Ali Hassaballa and the referee Delegate Mr. Majid Djerad.
In a match appeared less competitive than expected, the new look Egyptian team showed much improvement in their second match against Algeria than their first match against South African to clinch a straight sets victory (25-19, 25-15, 25-17) over Algeria in 59 minutes. The Egyptian block of Mohamed Abdel Moniem and Ahmed Aly and the efficient spikes of Mohamed Eldabousi and Ahmed Yousef made the difference against Algerians who were affected by the great effort done in their first five set match against Morocco 24 hours before.
Egypt Head Coach, Sherif El Shemerly was cheered with his team’s performance that put his team as the most favorite for the title. “We studied the Algerian team well through the video in their match against Morocco and we succeeded to put the tactics to win this critical match. We succeeded also to treat the defects of our block that appear in the last match against South Africa and our block was the star of the match today.” Said Shemerly.
On the contrary Algeria Head Coach, Kaci Said was blaming the physical fatigue as a main cause for this defeat. He said after the match “My players were physically affected by the great effort they did yesterday against Morocco in the five set match and this allowed the experienced Egyptian team to take over the match easier than expected. We had weak service that allowed Egypt to apply the strategy of the fast attacks through their middle blockers.
In the second match the favorite Tunisia started their match in the competition by a wide victory over the less experienced South Africa 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-19) in 64 minutes. Tunisia used their big guns Marouane Garci and Karim Brini to penetrate their opponent’s block. The Tunisian coach used some bench players during the match to distribute the effort before their important match against Egypt, while the South African team was affected by the injury of their player Ricky Govender. They struggled against better team in volleyball skills but they proof that they are promising in the near future when they get enough experience.
Tunisia head coach Mohamed Mounir Gara was satisfied with his team specially when he played with most of his squad. “We played with most of the squad in the match today to distribute the effort on all the players before the next important matches. We don’t have one star for the team as we depend on the collective team work so we wanted to put all the players on this experience.” He said
South Africa Head Coach, Abdel Hamid Elwassimy said after the match, “We missed our best player and this affected our performance but I’m satisfied with the performance. Unfortunately we played the hardest matches against Egypt, then Tunisia first but I think we have the opportunity to compete in the next matches against Algeria and Morocco. The most important thing from this participation is to win a team for the future.
Day One

Thriller victory for the organizers and easy win for Egypt
Casablanca, Morocco, August 28-: the organizers, Morocco were the hero of the opening day of the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship as they clinched a difficult victory over the struggling Algeria in a mouth watering five set match extended the thrills to the spectators for more than two hours of excellent volleyball at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco, while the favorites Egypt had an easy victory over the new comers South Africa. The competition is a qualifier to the 2007 Men’s U-21 World Championship to be organized in Morocco.
In a match full of thrills and made the spectators on their toes for 123 minutes Algeria clinched a narrow victory over Morocco in an exciting five set match 3-2 (29-27, 19-25, 25-12, 26-28, 18-16). Morocco used the strong wing spikers specially Naoufal Maskali and Mohamed Alaoui to penetrate the strong Algerian block although they missed their outstanding middle blockers due to injury.
Morocco coach, Mohamed Abdallaoui was very happy to have this difficult victory because it put his team on the competition spot. “We had to win this match in straight sets as we were better all through the match but my I send my congratulations to the Algerian team for their performance. We missed our middle blockers and this made a problem for us against the efficient spikes of the Algerian team.” Said Morocco coach happily after the match.
The Algerian coach was very sad to lose the match although his team was leading in the tiebreak and have three match points. “My players did their best in the match and their performance was affected by the some referee decisions.” Said Algeria Head Caoch, Kaci Said.
Egypt used the strong spike service and the strong hits of Mohamed El Dabousi and Ahmed Afifi to defeat South Africa 3-1 (25-17, 25-13, 23-25, 25-12) in 93 Minutes. Egypt was the dominating side all through the match except the second set which showed problems for the block which costed the team one set.
Although he had the first victory in the competition Egypt Head coach, Sherif El Shemerly was not satisfied with his team. “We are happy to achieve the first victory in the competition but we are not happy with the performance the team specially the blocking which needs some improvement before the stronger matches starting from Algeria tomorrow.” El Shemerly said.
On the contrary South Africa Head Coach, Abdel Hamid Elwassimy was cheered to his team performing well in their first ever international match. “We prepared this team to participate in two weeks and I think we are satisfied with our first performance in the competition against respected team. We didn’t play any match before the competition so new hope to improve in the next matches after the players get enough experience.” Said Wassimy.

Thriller competition for 2007 World Championship Slots

Casablanca, Morocco, August 27-: Morocco will be the site of the new African Battle for World Championship slots after Tunisia and Algeria organized last week the boys Under 19 and the girls Under 18 African competitions where Tunisia cut the tickets in both competition to the respective World Championships, when it organizes the 12th Men’s Under 21 African Nations Championship here at Mohamed V Hall in Casablanca, Morocco which qualify the champion and the runner up to the 2007 Men’s U-21 World Championship.

Five teams will compete for the two World championships sweet spots led by the defending champions and the organizers Morocco, the last competition runner up, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa and Algeria.

The competition day one will feature two important matches as the defending champions Morocco meets Algeria, while Egypt plays South Africa.

Morocco enter this competition to defend the title they achieved two years ago in Kenya under the supervision of the same head coach, Mohamed Abdellaoui who won the last title and aims to repeat this achievement in his homelands this year. Morocco started the preparation since a year as they had local training since September 2005 before the first international camp in Portugal in may 2006 including the participation in an international tournament with Portugal and Croatia teams. They participated in another friendship tournament in Kelibia, Tunisia with their team as well as Hungry, Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The team includes many promising stars led by Mohamed Alaoui, Faiazid Hesham and Maskali Naoufal. “We will try to repeat our victory in this competition but this time the championship will be much more difficult.” Said Morocco Head Coach.

Egypt comes as one of the big favorites for the title and World Championship spot. The team depends on the same framework of the under 19 team which participated in the 2005 World championship with only two players added by the head coach Sherif Elshemerly who led Egypt before to the most prestigious position when he won the fourth position in 2001 Boys U-19 World championship in Cairo. The team started the preparation since March 2006 through the participation in an international competition in Poland including its first and second teams and Czech Republic. After some time of stoppage due to exams of the players they continued preparation in the Olympic centre in Cairo and played some other matches against Bahrain and Oman. “This competition is the strongest ever of this age category due to the participation of all the big forces specially Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco and even South Africa is a new emerging team,” Said Elshemerly. “We will depend on the same skeleton of the team that participated in the last 2005 Boys Under 19 World Championship as 10 players out of twelve were their.” He added.

Algeria came to the competition with a new look team that started the preparation two month ago through a local camp followed by participation in the friendly tournament in Kelibia, Tunisia which included six teams. The Head Coach of the team, Kaci Mohamed Said added three players to the line up which played in the 2005 Boys U-19 World championship in Algeria. Massaoud Debbih and Chahine Zuich come as the most prominent stars.

Tunisia is searching for the third World championship ticket after they had already qualified to the boys U-19 and Girls U-18 World championships. The head coach, Mohamed Mounir Gara made a short but concentrated preparation starting in June as they played an international tournament in Algeria in June then another tour in Kelibia and finalized the programme with another tour in Poland early this month.

South Africa is coming to the competition thinking of the future more than competing for the trophy. The Egyptian head coach of the team Abdelhamid Elwassimy said “We are coming here to prepare a senior team for future and I think if five or six of this team proof themselves it will be a great success.
 
 
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