The thrills and excitements of Damaturu Volleyball Open in Nigeria

From July 12 to 16, volleyball players and officials from far and wide in the country converged on Damaturu, Yobe state to mark the 3rd edition of Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim Open Volleyball Championship which is fast turning to a carnival of a sort. Even though, winners and losers of the competition have emerged, the thrills, frills and excitement of the one week event will continue to linger.
GROWING in leap and bounds, the Governor Bukar Abba Ibrahim Open Volleyball Championship which came under way in the year 2003 has come to stay, as one of the regular calendar programme of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF).
In view of this, there has been a mad rush for the annual Damaturu Open championship among the cream of the nation’s volleyball players and officials to catch the excitements, Thrills and Frills of Desert spiking.
To mark the third edition of the championship held pen-ultimate week in Damaturu, a total of 20 teams, male and female registered for the event.
For the male category, which was competed for on a knockout basis, teams like the defending champions, Plateau, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Gombe, Borno, host Yobe Diamonds, FCT, Abuja NPF, Niger, Kano, Jigawa, Oyo, Imo and Nassarawa were in attendance.
While, the female category which ran on round robin basis had teams like the defending champions, Delta Force of Asaba, Navy, Imo, Plateau, NPF, NIS and Jigawa contesting for honor.
The competition which spiked -off on July 13 at the Damaturu Sports Complex witnessed a remarkable improvement in the standard of play and officiating, even though there were scores of complaints against bias ruling by some referees.
After five days of explosive spiking, a total of eight teams made it to the quarter finals in the male category. And these teams included Plateau, Niger, Yobe Diamonds, NPF, Oyo, Imo, Nassarawa and FCT.
But after the semi final pairings which saw Yobe Diamonds playing Niger in the same way Plateau encountered NIS.
For the ground finale Plateau who had 3-2 victory over host Yobe went home again with the honors at stake.
In the losers' final, Niger lost 1-3 to Immigration Service to win bronze and cash prize award of N 20,000.
However, the most improved team of the competition is the host Yobe Diamonds who after crashing out at the quarter final stage of the 2nd edition last year did not only make it to the final, but also attempted beaten Plateau, save for the experience and the availability of efficient bench.
On officiating, there was an improved officiating which reduced tension at the venues, even though there were isolated cases of alleged match fixing by the referees who wanted to influence the out come of particular match.
But the major side attraction of the competition were the supporters club members who on daily basis were on ground to cheer teams to victory no matter the contendig forces: there were occasions when teams that won a particular match will team up with the supporters club for the entertainment of fans.
Story By boye ajayi, Nigeria Volleyball Fed. Press Officer.