24th Men's
African Cup of Clubs Champions
Final:
Sfax
Won the trophy for the seventh time
GSU of Kenya achieves the Bronze Medal
Cotonou,
Benin, May 8-: Sfax of Tunisia won
the trophy of the twenty fourth Men's Cup of
Clubs Champions here in the Palais des
sports hall of Stade De
l'Amitie in the Benin Capital of Cotonou for
the seventh time in history. They clinched a
straight sets victory (25-16, 25-22, 25-17)
over FAP of Cameroon in the final. GSU of
Kenya achieved the bronze medal after their
3-0 victory over N University (NUR) of
Rwanda in the match of third place.
The final match was attended by big guests
headed by Mr. Pierre Osho, the minister of
defense and the representing of the
president of Benin, Benin Minister of
sports, Mr. Jean Baptiste EDAYE, General
Mama Sika the Minister of interior, Benin
Volleyball Federation President, Mr.
Dominique Atchawe, the organizing committee
President Mr. Benjamin Locossou, CAVB
Executive Director Mr. Charles Panou and
FIVB Referee commission secretary, Mr.
Hassan Ahmed.Sfax used the strong service of
Samir Sellami and Toumi Majdi to disturb FAP
team as the reception was the weakness point
in Cameroon
team. They also deployed their solid block
of Trabelsi, Belaid and Toumi against the
strong Cameroon hits of Kouamou Samou and
Tasama Mballa to build the fast attacks
which brought the historic victory to the
Tunisians. Beside the trophy, Sfax raised
its own record to 33 successive victories
without a defeat. FAP used the first wind of
the match to surprise Sfax with their
disciplined line up and used the strong hits
of Kouamou Samou and Tsama
Mballa to lead 8-6 and 12-8. The Tunisian
Head coach asked for a
time
out to adjust his line up and succeeded to
score 10 successive points to lead 18-12.
Sfax used the strong spikers Khalid Belaid
and Hosni Karmosli to penetrate the block of
Cameroon team to continue their
dominance to win the set 25-16.Sfax started
the second set on the same system depending
on the wing spiker Karmosli from position 2
and Belaid from position 4 to lead 8-5.
FAP arranged their block of Abbas El hahj
and Martin Nwastock to lead 19-15. Sfax
deployed their solid block of Toumi Majdi
and Karmosli to lead 23-20 before ending the
set 25-22.
The third set showed more concentration from
the Tunisian team to have a wide lead due to
the high performance of the match stars
Belaid, Karmousli and Toumi and ending the
set comfortably 25-17."Cameroon team showed
that they are one step in front of all
participating teams so they qualified to
this prestigious final but they have to deal
better with service if they want to have the
title" Said Sfax Head Coach, Milan Zarkovic
after the victory. "We played a good game
today and used our service as a strong point
of our strategy and Cameroon team helped us
with their mistakes in reception to build
up. I'm gals to have the 33rd victory in a
raw with the team without defeat." Zarkovic
cocluded.FAP Head Coach, Yetna Batoum said
"The Tunisian team was the better side in
the final, but we are satisfied with the
silver medal we had."GSU
Bronze Medal
The highly motivated GSU players used the
artistry of their stars Elphas Biwott and
David Omondi to sweep N University of Rwanda
in straight sets 25-20, 25-19, 25-14 to
achieve the Bronze Medal. This becomes the
first ever Kenyan medal in a continental
level in Men's gender in Club or National
teams' level. Kenya is well known of its
broad
history in Women's gender as one of the
leaders of Africa in this sport."I'm very
happy with this victory which put Kenya for
the first time in the medal podium of a
Men's competition” Said GSU Head Coach,
Moses
Epoloto in the press conference after the
match. "We have now to work hard and to use
the modern tools of training to catch what
is going around us. We worked hard in this
strong competition and I think the bronze is
a good achievement. In my opinion I consider
my star Elphas Biwott one of the best
players in the competition" Added Epoloto.
The Kenyan Captain, David Omondi followed "
We are happy to go back home with this
medal which is considered a good achievement
in this strong competition". The match star
and one of the most valuable players in the
competition,Elphas Biwott Said"We are now
proud of our achievement in this
competition. I think now it is time to go
more in the continental and international
level".N University Head Coach, Emmanuel
Emmanuel Ndugutse Said "We played a
goodcompetition but our objective was more
than the fourth place we achieved. We played
the match of bronze medal very tired because
we didn't have enough rest after the
semifinal yesterday".
Semifinal:
Sfax and FAP to Final Spot
Brave end of Rwanda and Kenya teams
Adventures
Cotonou, Benin, May 7-:
Sfax of Tunisia and FAP of Cameroon
qualified to the final spot of the twenty
fourth Men's Cup of Clubs Champions here in
the
Palais des sports hall of Stade De l'Amitie
in the Benin Capital of Cotonou. Both team
had considerable victories over their
compatriots GSU of Kenya and N University of
Rwanda (NUR) respectively on Saturday.
Sfax and FAP will meet together on Sunday on
the final, while the losers NUR and GSU will
play for the bronze medal.
Sfax team of Tunisia came from one set
behind to pull off a 3-1 (23-25, 25-18,
26-24, 25-15) over the high fighters GSU of
Kenya to qualify for the semifinal. The more
experienced Tunisian players managed the
match successfully in the critical points
using the strong spike services and the
opponent errors in reception. The Tunisian
setter Samir Sellami and the talent wing
spiker Hosni Karmousli played a very
important role in this victory with their
successful spike services which made
disturbance in the Kenyan team tactics. The
Kenyan team showed a brave fighting all
through the match in their first ever
qualification to the semifinal of this
prestigious competition.
"I congratulate the Kenyan team for their
high spirit and good performance in this
competition. They played well today and made
us fighting for the result all through the
match" Said Sfax Head Coach, Milan Zarkovic
appreciating the performance of the Kenyan
team. "They obligated me not to use my
substitutes all through the match and I
think this team will improve a lot in the
next competition" He added
Tunisian record
The victory achieved a new record for Sfax
in regular victories. " I'm happy to have
this victory which allowed us to qualify to
the final spot and also helped us to
continue our record of playing 32 matches
till now without a defeat. Now we are
looking forward to continue this big
record". The Tunisian coach concluded.
The match star and Sfax Captain Samir
Sellami commented in the press
conference following the match: "We started
the match very confident to have a victory
but after the first set we realized that it
is not an easy match and thus we were
fighters for each point after. We are
concentrating now to the final to return
back homewards with the trophy.
GSU Head Coach, Moses Epoloto said "We put
our strategy on using our good attackers and
blockers to stop the prominent Tunisian
players. Our main problem was the reception
as we made many mistakes in this match which
did allow us to apply our strategy. Now I'm
sad because we dream to reach the final but
now we are satisfied with our performance
and looking forward to win the bronze medal
to be represented in the medal podium.
GSU Captain, David Omondi "We were motivated
to make a surprise and qualify to the final
but we fell in some mistakes which made us
losing many easy points.
Strong FAP Hits Black Horse
In the second semifinal match, FAP of
Cameroon ended the brave adventure of N
University of Rwanda, named in the
competition as the "black horse". FAP kept
their momentum to clinch a straight sets
victory 26-24, 26-24, 25-17.
The Rwandan team used the artistry of their
star players Jean Uwamahoro and Elie
Mutabazi to reach twice to the set point in
the first two sets but finally the strong
Cameroon team managed the situation using
the strong hits of Martin Nwastock and Samou
kouamou.
"We won by the experience of our players who
participated in many African competitions in
the last few years. We respected the
opponent that played a very good tournament
and we used the talent players in spiking
and block against the prominent Rwandan
players specially Jean Uwamahoro. Now we
approached the final and we want to complete
the story to the trophy" Said FAP Head
Coach, Batoum Yetna after the match. His
team Captain, Martin Nwastock followed
happily "We ended the match in straight sets
not because the Rwanda team was easy but
because our performance reached to the top
level. We lost against Sax in the
preliminary round and now it is out turn to
take the revenge".
Sad but steady as usual N University Head
Coach, Emmanuel Ndungutse Said "We lost the
final points in the first and second sets
because of our own mistakes in service a
reception. We lost the trophy but more
important we left good impression of the
emerging Rwandan volleyball". His team
Captain, Fidele Nyilimana said "We were
tired because we didn't take enough rest
yesterday but we succeeded to keep our
physical fitness till the end. Our objective
was to qualify to the final but we faced a
respectable team.
Day Six:
GSU of Kenya and FAP of Cameroon
completed the semifinal podium
The two Home Side Teams Eliminated
Cotonou, Benin, May 5-:
FAP of Cameroon and GSU of Kenya secured the
third and
fourth
tickets to the semifinal of the twenty
fourth Men's Cup of Clubs Champions here in
the Palais des sports hall of Stade De
l'Amitie in the Benin Capital of Cotonou to
join Sfax of Tunisia and N University of
Rwanda (NUR) already have the semis ticket
Wednesday. FAP and GSU had two big victories
over KC Bank of Kenya and Inter Club of
Congo Brazzaville in the final day of
competition preliminary round. The Semifinal
matches will see Saturday Sfax to meet GSU,
while NUR to play FAP.
In a match called the "Match of the day" FAP
of Cameroon used the artistry of their
strong hitters to break KC Bank defense and
clinch a 3-0 victory (25-17, 25-22, 25-21)
in pool A. The strong service of FAP team
didn't allow the Kenyans to build up their
attacks."I put my strategy for this match to
use our spike services to disturb our
opponents and to prevent them to use the
tall players by the net and thus we
succeeded to penetrate their defense by our
spikers" Said FAP Head Coach, Batoum Yetna.
"We used also our solid block and back line
defense as a big factor of our victory and
in my opinion the star of the match was our
libero, Kamto Fossi who did a good job in
defense. I know the semifinal match will not
be easy against Rwanda.
In the same pool Sfax of Tunisia already
qualified to the semifinal played a
comfortable match to beat CIK of Guinea in
straight sets (25-8, 25-9, 25-12). The
Serbian coach of Sfax, Milan Zarkovic played
with main line up to give his players the
sense of the court because they will have
two more rest days before the semifinal,
Saturday.
In Pool B, The highly motivated GSU of Kenya
secured the second semifinal vacancy in Pool
B after their straight sets victory over the
tensioned Inter Club of Congo Brazzaville
(25-21, 25-23, 25-17). As it was the match
of qualification to the semifinal both teams
started the match tensioned to have the
victory which qualifies to the sweet spot.
GSU was the more stable team, thus they
controlled the match from the start till the
end. The wing spikers Elphas Biwott and
Jeremiah Rotich led the team to the historic
victory which puts a Men's Kenyan team in
the semifinal of African competition for the
first time ever. Kenya, representing Africa
in the last Olympic Games in Athens 2004 in
Women's gender, is well known of its strong
women teams, but hasn't any achievement in
men's Catergory.
"Finally we achieved our goals of being in
the semifinal spot" Said GSU Head Coach,
Moses Epoloto happily. "We worked hard all
through the competition to realize this
dream and now we are looking forwards to go
more towards the trophy. I was very close to
the team since our victory yesterday over
Africa Sports of Cote d'Ivoire and I
motivated the players to enter the history
by this victory. I appreciate the effort
done by the match star Elphas Biwott who led
the team efficiently with the powerful
spikes" He concluded. The disappointed Inter
Club Head Coach, Charlemagne Vingha
commented "We had come her to reach the
semifinal but unfortunately we didn't
achieve our goals. The Kenyan team was more
motivated to win this match. My players were
tired today and so they fell in many
reception mistakes which didn't allow us to
apply our attacking strategy".
In a fantastic match full of energy N
University of Rwanda (NUR) which secured
before the first pool semifinal ticket,
pulled off a 3-1 victory (26-24, 21-25,
25-19) over the organizers, Postel. It was
their fifth victory in a row in the
preliminary round to lead pool B with 10
points.
Satisfied with his team performance NUR Head
Coach, Emmanuel Ndungutse Said "I'm very
happy to be between the final four teams.
Now we are looking forwards to win the
trophy. I'm very happy also to be named the
black horse of the competition. I think we
played a good game today against the
organizers. The semifinal will be completely
different and we are looking forwards to
realize our dreams".
Postel Coach Ghislain Tomede replied in the
press conference following the match "We
didn't have enough motivation to have this
victory because we lost any hope to qualify
to the semifinal. We were working hard from
the start to have more positive result but
the players didn't have enough experience.
The Rwandan team is considered actually the
surprise of this competition".
Mbongo of RD Congo clinched the first
victory in their last match over Africa
Sports of Cote d'Ivoire 3-1 (25-19, 25-18,
22-25, 25-18). In spite of this win Congo
team ended the preliminaries in the last
position in the pool. "Today we achieved our
first victory and I'm happy to leave the
competition with good impression" Said
Mbongo Head Coach, Kiomba Mukonkole.
Day Five:
Sfax of Tunisia and NUR of Rwanda Secured
Semifinal Spots
Big Battle in the last preliminary day to
determine the last qualifiers
Cotonou, Benin, May 4-:
The competition most favorite Sfax of
Tunisia and N University of Rwanda both
secured a semifinal spot in the fifth day of
the twenty fourth Men's Cup of Clubs
Champions here in the Palais des sports hall
of Stade De l'Amitie in the Benin Capital of
Cotonou. Both teams achieved three sets
victories over UAC of Benin and Inter Club
of Congo respectively to reach the semis
without dropping a set. Two semifinal
tickets were left for the final day of the
preliminary round on Thursday.
Sfax was the first team to cut a semifinal
ticket when they beat UAC of Benin in front
of their spectators 3-0 (25-22, 25-21,
25-15) in their third match in Pool A. Sfax
head coach intended to give rest to his
standing players for the next round and gave
the chance to many bench players. The
Serbian coach of Sfax, Milan Zarkovic said
in the press conference after the match "we
are the more experienced side so we had an
easy victory. We didn't play with our full
strength because I expect strong competition
in the finals"
The highly fit FAP team needed only 58
minutes to sweep CIK of Guinea 3-0 (25-9,
25-18, 25-16) to be ranked second in this
pool and became near the second semifinal
ticket in this pool. FAP was the better side
from the first whistle as they used their
strong hitters Kouamou Samou and Tsama Balla
to have a big point's gap. "We are now
looking forwards to reach the final to play
Sfax again and to take the revenge" Said FAP
head coach Batoum Yetna.
Death Group
In Pool B, Postel of Benin keep the home
momentum when they pulled off a very
difficult victory over the outsiders, Mbongo
of RD Congo 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 20-25,
15-9) in 104 minutes of exciting volleyball.
Postel started the match aided by the
excited spectators to win the first set.
When all home crowd thought that their team
was coming to an easy straight sets victory,
Postel players began to disturb to lose the
second and fourth sets and they had to fight
till the tie breaker to beat the team which
didn't even won a set all through the last
matches. "With this poor victory our chances
to the semifinal became very weak because we
had to win this match in straight sets" Said
Postel Coach, Ghislain Tomede.
The black horse of the competition N
University (NUR) of Rwanda clinched the
fourth victory in a row over Inter club of
Congo Brazzaville 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-20)
to secure a semifinal spot. N University
team managed the match from the start
through their better line up using the
unstable performance of Inter club team.
"I'm very happy to qualify to the semifinal
and I hope to continue the victory rhythm to
qualify to the final for the first time"
Said N University Head Coach, Emmanuel
Bizimana. "Some of my key players were now
out of their normal performance because of
fatigue from the successive matches in this
very hot weather. It is difficult to expect
the finalists of this competition but we
have to manage our situation ourselves" He
concluded.
On the other hand Inter Club Head Coach,
Charlemagne Vingha said"
We don't have a chance now to qualify to the
semifinal but we left a good image in this
competition. Our performance decreased a lot
in this match because most of the players
were tired yesterday's match".
GSU of Kenya continued the high performance
and succeeded to bring the third victory in
the competition over Africa sports of Cote
d'Ivoire in three straight sets (25-21,
25-21, 25-21). The match star Elphas Biwott
of GSU led his team with his high
performance to the important victory which
put his team in a good situation to reach
the semifinal. "We deployed our solid block
against the strong Africa sports spiker so
we had this important victory which may gave
us a berth to the semifinal spot" Said GSU
Head Coach, Moses Epoloto happily. "I
appreciate the effort of all my players in
this match specially Elphas Biwott the match
star. I 'm now looking forwards to the next
match to achieve our dreams of being between
the final four" Added Epoloto.
The last day of the preliminary round will
show a big battle for the last two spots in
the semifinal. In pool A Sfax will play CIK
of Guinea, while Kenya Commercial Bank will
fight for the second pool ticket against the
strong FAP of Cameroon.
Pool B will show three matches to determine
the second semifinalist of the Rwandan team.
The three matches are Africa Sports vs.
Mbongo, KIC Bank vs. Inter club and N
University (NUR) vs. Postel.
Day Four:
The black
Hoarse, N University of Rwanda sets the
third victory
Another
day of Catastrophe for the home side teams
Cotonou, Benin, May 3-:
N University team (NUR) of Rwanda was the
star of the Fourth day of the twenty fourth
Men's Cup of Clubs Champions here in the
Palais des sports hall of Stade De l'Amitie
in the Benin Capital of Cotonou. They
achieved the third victory in raw in pool B
of the competition to lead the pool and
become near a semifinal spot. It was also
another catastrophe for the home side teams
as both Postel and UAC of Benin lost for the
second successive day to be in a critical
position towards the final four. Both Kenyan
teams KC Bank and GSU set the second victory
and became near the semis.
By the end of the competition day four KC
Bank of Kenya lead Pool A with 5 points
ahead of the competition most favorite, Sfax
of Tunisia which was in off day and UAC of
Benin. In pool B N University of Rwanda have
the lead with six points ahead of GSU of
Kenya and Inter Club of RD Congo.
In Pool A, FAP players of Cameroon used
their efficient spikes to penetrate the weak
defense of UAC team of Benin and achieve 3-0
victory (25-18, 25-18, 25-11) in 54 minutes.
The Cameroon players proved that they are
coming to compete for the trophy. "We came
here for the trophy and we will prove that
in the next matches" Said Cameroon Head
Coach, Batoum Yetna. "We applied our
strategy in this match and I thank my
players for doing well. UAC Coach replied in
the press conference after the match "The
players lost their concentration and we hope
to regain this in the next matches to
approach the semifinal".
KC Bank of Kenya playing with their optimum
performance clinched a big victory over CIK
of guinea in 60 minutes. Maina Jason,
Njoroge Michael and Eliha Aliwa did well and
helped the team to achieve this big victory.
In Pool B GSU used the mistakes of Postel of
Benin and their powerful spikers to have a
considerable victory 3-0 (25-18, 25-16,
25-18) and regain the dream of semifinal
spot. The organizers appeared in a poor
performance while the Kenyan team played
their best match in front of Benin
spectators.
The black hoarse of the competition N
University (NUR) of Rwanda continued their
win rhythm as they set the third victory in
row over Mbongo of RDCongo (25-15, 25-16,
25-17). The Rwandan team played an easy
match as they were superior in all tactical
and technical aspects. They started the
match with their best line up and succeeded
to lead widely in the first set after a
group of successful spikes from Jean Ndayi
and Charles Nkurunziza and thus they
continued the rhythm to win the next two
sets.
Inter club of Congo Brazzaville used the
unstable state of Africa Sports team of of
Cote d'Ivoire to achieve a straight sets
victory (25-21, 25-21, 25-22) in a match
showed the full power of Congo team
Day Three:
Sfax of Tunisia and University of Rwanda set
second victory
Cotonou,
Benin, May 2-: It was the day off for
the home side teams in the third day of the
of the of the twenty fourth Men's Cup of
Clubs Champions here in the Palais des
sports hall of Stade De l'Amitie in the
Benin Capital of Cotonou as both Postel and
UAC lost their matches against Africa Sports
of Cote d'Ivoire and KC Bank of Kenya
respectively. Both Sfax of Tunisia and N
University of Rwanda clinched their second
victory in row to lead both pools.
In Pool A, The competition most favorite
team Sfax of Tunisia set the second victory
in row over the strong FAP of Cameroon 3-0
(25-22, 25-17, 25-23). The man of the match
Hosni Karamosli led his team with efficient
spikes from position 2 aided by the skillful
setting from Samir Sellami.
"We faced a strong team but my players today
were more serous than the first match. I
hope to continue this rhythm till the final"
Said Sfax Head Coach, Milan Zarkovic of
Serbia. "The competition is very strong and
many teams here can compete for the trophy
but we have to do much work from now to
achieve the dream of getting the trophy" He
added.
"This is our first match for us but we
started in the third day. We have more time
now to improve but we have to work hard in
the next matches" Replied FAP Head Coach,
Batoum Yetna in the press conference after
the match.KC Bank of Kenya recovered from
the mistakes they made in the first match
against Sfax to achieve a big victory
against the home side UAC of Benin in
straight sets 25-16, 25-19, 25-20 to regain
the hope to have a semifinal spot.With the
recurrent reception and defense mistakes the
organizers, Postel of Benin lost against the
super Africa Sports team of Cote d'Ivoire
3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 24-26, 25-14) in front of
the big attendance of home side spectators
in Pool B. the home side appeared with poor
performance than the opening match.The black
Hoarse of the competition, N University of
Rwanda swept GSU of Kenya in a one side game
(25-13, 25-21, 25-21). The Rwandan team
found it easy to have a rapid lead through
their strong line up led by the middle
player Jean Uwamahoro, the tallest player in
the competition and the strong spiker Eric
Nsabimana.
In a match of geographical neighbors Inter
club of Congo Brazzaville set the first
victory over Mbongo of RD Congo 3-0 (25-14,
25-18, 28-26)Competition day four, will show
5 matches, Pool A will show UAC of Benin vs.
FAP of Cameroon, and CIK of Guinea vs. KC
Bank of Kenya. In Pool B there will be three
matches; GSU of Kenya vs. Postel of Benin,
Inter of Congo vs. Africa Sports of Cote
d'Ivoire and Mbongo of RD Congo vs. N
University of Rwanda.
Day Two:
Sfax of Tunisia set the first victory after
low performance
Cotonou,
Benin, May 1-: Sfax of Tunisia, UAC
of Benin, GSU of Kenya, N University were
the winners in the second day of the of the
twenty fourth Men's Cup of Clubs Champions
here in the Palais des sports hall of Stade
De l'Amitie in the
Benin
Capital of Cotonou
In Pool A Sfax of Tunisia found it difficult
to defeat KC Bank of Kenya after
inconvenient performance (29-28, 28-26,
25-14). The highly technical Kenyans reached
twice to the set point in the first and
second set but failed to win due to silly
mistakes. "We didn't play well
today and I'm not convinced with my team
performance. We have to increase our work in
the next matches if we want to win this
competition. I know well all our mistakes
and I will try to get rid of all these in
the next match" Said Sfax Head Coach, Milan
Zarkovic.
KC Bank Head Coach, Jackton Omukani
commented "Our finishing in all sets was not
good and we have to work hard in the next
match to keep our hope to win the title. My
players played well in the first and second
sets but the last few points were really
disappointing".
In the same pool, UAC of Benin used the home
crowd to have a straight sets victory over
CIK of Guinea (25-23, 25-22, 25-23) in a
match settled through the experience of the
home side
In Pool B, GSU Coach used the talent hitters
to clinch a straight sets victory over
Mbongo of RD Congo (25-14, 28-26, 25-22).In
the same pool N. University of Rwanda
achieved the first competition surprise
defeating Africa Sport of Cote d'Ivoire 3-1
(25-16, 25 -20, 23-25, 25-22) in an exciting
match showing a high performance from the
winner which surprised a lot the Ivorian
team.Competition day three, Monday will show
a condensed programme of 5 matches, Pool A
will show KC Bank vs. UAC of Benin and FAP
of Cameroon vs. Sfax of Tunisia. In Pool B
there will be three matches; Africa Sports
of Cote d'Ivoire vs. Postel of Benin, GSU of
Kenya vs. N University of Rwanda and Inter
Club of Congo Brazzaville vs. VC Mbongo of
RD Congo.
Day one:
Postel of Benin achieved the opening victory
Cotonou, Benin, April
30-: The organizers Postel team of
Benin swept Inter club of Congo Brazzaville
in straight sets 25-18, 25-21, 25-17
in 95 minutes of exciting volleyball in the
opening day of the twenty fourth Men's Cup
of Clubs Champions here in the Palais des
sports hall of Stade De l'Amitie in the
Benin Capital of Cotonou.
The opening ceremony was attended by many
big guests headed by Mr. Pierre Otto, the
minister of defense and the representing of
the president of Benin, Benin Minister of
sports, Mr. Jean Baptiste EDAYE who will be
the Patron of the competition, General Mama
Sika the Minister of interior, Mr. Rafiou
Toukourou the president of Social and
economic council, Benin Volleyball
Federation President, Mr. Dominique Atchawe,
the organizing committee President Mr.
Benjamin Locossou, CAVB Executive Director
Mr. Charles Panou, and the FIVB VIS
instructor Mr. Jivko jetchev.The opening
match was very exciting attended by more
than 2000 spectators who were very excited
with the host team performance. Postel aided
by the big spectators in Hall led from the
start by the powerful spikes of Lucian
assogba from position 2 and Tabe Abdelsadek
from position 4 and continued win easily
with the help of their skillful setter. "I'm
very happy to enter the competition with
this big victory which will push the team in
the next matches of the competition" Said
Postel Head Coach Ghislain Tomede. "I thank
very much my setter who played a very
important role in this victory. Now we have
to think of the coming hard match to win the
title" He added. Interclub Head Coach,
Vingha Chaslemagne said "We didn't
concentrate in the match because the players
were very tired of coming to Benin
just few hours before our first match. My
players didn't use to play against this big
number of spectators so they lost their
concentration". Competition day two will
show four matches in both pools. In pool A
Mbongo (RD Congo) will meet GSU of Kenya
while N University of Rwanda plays Africa
sports of Cote d'Ivoire. Pool B will see the
first favorite Sfax of Tunisia vs. KC Bank
of Kenya and UAC of Benin vs. Club
Industrial of Guinea.
Drawing of lots
Benin ready to host the biggest ever
African competition
Cotonou, Benin, April
29-: The drawing of lots of the
twenty fourth African Cup of Clubs Champions
was held Friday in the capital of Benin,
Cotonou as Sfax team of Tunisia was put in
Pool A with UAC club of Benin, KC Bank of
Kenya, Industrial de Komsar of Guinea and
FAP of Cameroon. Pool B will include the
organizers, Postel of Benin, GSU of Kenya,
Inter Club of Congo Brazzaville, Mbongo of
RD Congo, and National University of Rwanda.
The opening ceremony will be held Saturday
followed by the opening match between Postel
of Benin and Inter club of Congo
Brazzaville.
The ceremony of drawing of lots was attended
by Benin Volleyball Federation President,
Mr. Dominique Atchawe, the organizing
committee President Mr. Benjamin Locossou,
CAVB Executive Director Mr. Charles Panou,
and FIVB VIS instructor Mr. Jevko jitchev.
The VIS course started Friday under
supervision of course instructor Mr. Jivko
Jetchev of Bulgaria attended by 20
participants. The competition will be
covered by a special web site in the
internetwww.cavbenin2005.bj
as well as the ordinary coverage by the CAVB
web site
www.cavb.org. Benin local TV will
also broadcast the matches live with a wide
coverage by the local big newspapers and the
regional press agencies.
"We hope to see a successful competition
under the fair play basis of FIVB" Said Mr.
Charles Panou. " I expect a very high
performance from
the 11 participating team in the first
continental competition to be held in this
country" He added.The organizing committee
President Mr. Benjamin Locossou Said "We
hope to have good organization in the first
big competition hosted in our
homelands". Benin Minister of sports, Mr.
Jean Baptiste EDAYE who will be the Patron
of the competition, declared his support
with all the sports, technical and financial
needs to bring it to a complete success.
Benin ready
to host the biggest ever African competition
Cotonou,
Benin, April 17-: Benin became ready
to host the historic African Club
competition, the twenty fourth Men's African
Cup of
Clubs Champions to be held in the capital
Cotonou, 29 April- 8 May. Benin Volleyball
federation arranged everything to bring the
competition to a complete success with
maximum number of participant teams which
may reach to 14 clubs.
The competition will be held in two halls in
the capital of Benin, the bigger is in Stade
De l'Amitie Complex with a capacity of 6000
spectators, and the smaller in Hall des Arts
et sports with 2000 capacity.
The organizers also arranged a big press
working room with internet, Telephone and
fax facilities to allow the big number of
journalists
expected to cover the competition to do
their work efficiently and successfully and
also to host the press conference for head
coaches
after the matches.
"We are looking forwards to bring full
success to this competition" Said CAVB
Executive director, Mr. Charles Panou after
the
inspection visit he did to the competition
venue. "We aim to bring more success to the
competition through both Coaches and VIS
courses to be held during the competition
under supervision of the FIVB development
commission with the technical support of
Office
de Posts and Telecommunications in Benin
(OPT) " Added Panou.
The VIS course will be conducted by the FIVB
Instructor Mr. Jivko Jetchev from Bulgaria
who will conduct also another coach's course
for the coaches of the participating clubs.
The competition will be covered also by a
special web site in the internet
www.cavbenin2005.bj as well as the ordinary
coverage by
the CAVB web site www.cavb.org. Benin local
TV will also broadcast the matches live with
a wide coverage by the local big
newspapers and the regional press agencies.
Benin Minister of sports, Mr. Jean Baptiste
EDAYE who will be the Patron of the
competition, declared his support with all
the sports,
technical and financial needs to bring it to
a complete success.
By
Tarek Aladwar from Cotonou, Benin
CGI
