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Big Forces Qualified to
Quarterfinal
 Niamey,
Niger April 23, 2007-: The defending champions Ahly of Egypt and
their compatriots Al Guish, Mouloudia of Algeria, the two
Cameroon team FAP and Port Douala, the black horses GSU of
Kenya, University of Rwanda and Ahly of Libya cut their tickets
to the quarterfinal of the twenty sixth Men’s Volleyball African
Clubs Champions Championship here at Palais des Sports hall in
Niamey, Niger following the results of the third and final day
of the preliminary round on Monday. Al Ahly, Al Guish, GSU,
Mouloudia and Port achieved victories in their matches at the
end of the first round while Ahly of Libya and FAP secured their
tickets although they were defeated today. Tiko of Madagascar
had a late victory after surprising performance to play for 9-12
positions.
The competition third day was attended by the Egyptian
Ambassador in Niger Mohamed Mahmoud El Ashmaoui, Control
Committee President Mr. Baba Sy, SOC delegates Mr. Okba Gougam
and Mr. Morakinyo, Referee Delegate Mr. Majeed Djirad, and Niger
Volleyball Federation President Mr. Amada Sidiyane.
El Guish of Egypt achieve their second victory in their three
teams pool A over the well organized Ahly of Libya 3-1 (25-15,
23-25, 25-23, 25-14) in 83 minutes of exciting volleyball
specially in the second and third sets. Al Guish led Pool A with
a win- loss ratio of 2-0 with four point and secured a
quarterfinal ticket in their first ever participation in this
competition and second at the African level after the Cup
Winners Cup in 2006. Al Guish started the match with the full
power and depended on the tall centers Ibrahim Rashwan and the
Nigerian Emmanuel to win the first set easily. The situation was
different thereafter as Ahly of Libya showed disciplined defense
and succeeded to use the wing spikers John Adamu and Yousef Anan
as well as the tall middle blocker Amed El Deredy to win the
second set and were about to win the third when El Guish coach
used his strong attacker Mohamed Gabal in position 2 and Eslam
Awad in position 4 to regain the rhythm of attacks and win two
successive sets.
Guish coach Foad Abdel Salam was not satisfied with his team
performance in spite of their victory and leadership of the pool
because he saw that they were not highly motivated during the
match.
Al Ahly of Egypt pulled of a straight sets victory over
University Calavi of Benin with the least effort 25-11, 25-23,
25-21 in 72 minutes. Ahly record raised to 2-0 in Pool B to
bring the lead with 4 points and cut the qualification ticket to
the quarterfinal while University Calavi of Benin dropped to 0-2
and came at the bottom of the pool. Ahly coach Nour Attia used
some of the substitutes to relief some of his outstanding
players to the coming matches in the competition as well as he
lost his star Ahmed Salah due to Flu infection. After winning
the first set easily Ahly performance deteriorated and were near
to lose the set against the highly motivated Benin players
specially the middle blocker Senassa Zossou and the setter
Soulaymane Coulibaly. Ahly players regained their known
performance in the third set and succeeded to end the situation
to their side.
Mouloudia of Algeria made it 3 out of 3 when they defeated the
resistant FAP team of Cameroon 3-1 in a fantastic match full of
volleyball thrills lasting 100 minutes in the competition Pool
C. Mouloudia led the pool with six points from 3-0 record, while
FAP came second with 2-1 record but both secured their
quarterfinal tickets. The Algerian tam used the strong spikers
Ali Kerboua and Valery Tatsi to penetrate the solid Cameroon
block and used the combinations of the efficient setter Hassan
Sola to win the match. FAP struggled to win the third set after
a group of strong spikes from their wing spiker Robert Samou but
they couldn’t stop the Algerian superiority on the net and
backline defense.
Tiko of Madagascar found finally the way to victory as they
clinched their competition first win over Defense of Ethiopia
3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-23, 25-19) in 66 minutes, in the
competition Pool C. The victory raised Tiko record to 1-2 to end
first round in the third position with four points leaving
Cement at the bottom of the pool with three points from 0-3
record.
Again Tiko appeared as a well organized team led by their
efficient setter Mikela who arranged the combinations which made
them able to deceive the Ethiopian defense.
GSU of Kenya proved that they are coming to compete for the cup
after they achieved their third victory in a raw over Inter Club
of Congo Brazzaville in straight sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-14) in
only 54 minutes in Pool D. The victory raised the win- loss
ratio of GSU to 3-0 to lead the pool with 6 points and secure a
ticket in the quarterfinal, while inter Club dropped to 1-2 to
end the first round in the third position with 4 points.
GSU used their big guns Elphas Biwott and David Opiyo to
maintain their dominance by the net all through the match to
bring the victory which made their coach Moses Epoloto cheered
after he found his team recovering completely from the fatigue
since their arrival to Niger.
Port Douala of Cameroon regained their victory rhythm after
losing in their second match as they achieved their second
victory over Cement of Ethiopia 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-17) in 63
minutes in competition pool D. the victory raised Port’s record
to 2-1 to end the preliminary round in the second position with
5 points and secured the second vacancy of the pool in the
quarterfinal leaving Cement at the bottom of the pool with three
points from 0-3 record.
Port team managed to end the job as early as possible through
their solid block and organized combinations which were used
well by their spikers.
Quarterfinal Matches on Wednesday
· 1st Pool A (Guish) vs. 2nd Pool D (Port Douala)
· 1st Pool D (GSU) vs. 2nd Pool A (Ahly)
· 1st Pool B (Ahly) vs. 2nd Pool C (FAP)
· 1st Pool C (Mouloudia) vs. 2nd Pool B (University Rwanda)
Semifinal of 9-12 positions
· 3rd Pool A (ASVB Niger) vs. 3rd Pool D (Inter)
· 3rd Pool B (University Benin) vs. 3rd Pool C (Tiko)
By Tarek Al Adwar CAVB Press
Officer from Niamey, Niger |
