Day 4
Tunisia one step towards the Cup, Egypt edges Algeria
%20spiking%20against%20double%20block%20of%20Egypt.jpg) Cairo,
Egypt, December 24, 2008- The defending champions Tunisia
becomes one step towards keeping the title of the 2008 Boys
Youth African Nations Championship in their homeland following
their thirds victory in a raw over Burundi in the competition’s
fourth day here at Cairo Stadium Complex on Wednesday. The
organizers Egypt rebounded after their critical defeat against
Tunisia and achieved their third victory over Algeria in their
last match in the competition to secure the second position.
Tunisia plays Libya in the fifth and final day of the round
robin competition and if they win, the title will be Tunisian,
while Algeria plays Burundi for the third position.
The matches were attended by CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani,
Local Organizing Committee and FEVB President Ali Elsergany, SOC
Delegate Joseph Mokanda, Referee Delegate Hassan Ahmed CAVB
Technical Director Mrs. Howyda Mondy and the competition Manager
Gamal Sheha.
It is known that 2008 African Nations Championship features
five teams Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Burundi who play a
round robin tournament determining the African champions and the
qualifiers to the 2009 FIVB World Championship.
Egypt vs. Algeria
Egypt regained the original performance one day after losing
against Tunisia since 24 hours and swept Algeria 3-0 (25-22,
25-17, 25-17) in 74 minutes. Egypt played their best match in
the competition in attacks and defense specially the setter
Ahmed Kotb and the opposite Moustafa Idris who scored 8 points
in the match and also did a lot in defense. Egypt improved their
record to 3-1 and finished their matches with 7 points while
Algeria dropped to 1-2 with 4 points.
Egypt head coach Reda Elghazale said that his players were
different quality in the match than against Tunisia. “I know
that the problem of my players was the lack of experience
because they trained for only three monthes before the
competition and when they are under pressure they lose the
concentration. Today we were better in defense and attacks
specially after we won the critical first set.” He said
Algeria head coach Abdelhakim Djehiche was sad because of the
players’ performance and the referee decisions. “I think my
players lost their concentration when the referee had some
decisions and after they lost their concentration to lose easily
the second and third sets.” He said
The Algerian players were more concentrated as the wing spiker
Sofian Haichour did well in spiking from position 4 with the aid
of the strong middle blockers. Algeria used also the frequent
mistakes of the Egyptian players in reception and serving to
lead 8-3 at the first technical timeout (FTT). Egypt players
regained the rhythm as the opposite Moustafa Idris and the left
attacker Eslam Aboulhassan sent their strong hits to lead for
the first time 16-15 at the second technical timeout (STT). By
the time the Egyptian players became more aggressive in attacks
to finish the set 25-22.
The Egyptian players kept their momentum in the second set as
the setter Ahmed Kotb led the combinations by the net and used
the wing spikers Amr Elsakkar and Aboulhassan as well as the
impermeable block of Mohamed Elaskalany and Mohamed Elmahy to
widely lead all through the set. Although Algeria tried to come
back when Egypt led 16-8 through improving the backline defense
and the reception they couldn’t catch the set as Egypt went
through to win 25-17.
The third set showed also Egyptian domination through the
efficient blockers and the strong services that disturbed the
Algerian block and backline defense. The Algerian players
facilitate the duty also with the frequent reception and digging
mistakes that cost them to lose the set 25-17 and Egypt won the
match in straight sets.
Tunisia vs. Burundi
Tunisia continued their clean sheet and pulled of their third
victory over Burundi 3-0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-13) in 65 minutes.
Burundi surprised the audience with the highly motivated
performance in the first set and the team was near to win the
set that was won by Tunisia narrowly 25-23. The Tunisian players
took the match seriously in the second and third sets when their
big gun the opposite Brahim Besbes sent his unstoppable hits
from position 2 with the aid of the combinations from the
skillful setter Mahdi Sammoud who was the main factor of the
victory. Tunisia improved their record to 3-0 with 6 points from
three matches while Burundi dropped to 1-2.
The Tunisian head coach Lotfi Ben Slimane referred the low
performance in the first set to the psychobiological aspect
after the big victory against Egypt in the previous day. “We
played the most difficult set in the competition during the
first set against Burundi when they led many times and were more
serious in defense. I think this team is very promising if their
players got enough training in future. This is a usual reaction
in all the Arab players; the performance is usually low when
they are sure of the victory. I will ask my players to
concentrate on the last match tomorrow against Libya because the
competition hasn’t finished yet.” Slimane said.
On the other hand the Egyptian head coach of Burundi Ahmed
Elgazar was proud of his player after the match because they did
well as a whole although they didn’t train for a long time. “I’m
happy with the spirit of my player and we were near to have a
big surprise if we won the first set. I changed some positions
as I played with the second setter Briand as a middle blocker to
adjust the block and he succeeded in his new position. I’m still
dreaming to have a big surprise tomorrow against Algeria.” He
said
The first set went point by point all through till the draw
23-23 when Besbes and Mohamed Othmane settled the situation to
their team 25-23. The Burundian star innocent Irdukunda was also
one of the stars and ended the match and the best scorer of his
team with 14 points.
The Tunisian players returned back to their concentration in
the secondd and third sets and improved their block against the
Burundian attacks but finally they depended on the opposite
Besbes to finalize the match as he came as the match best scorer
with 16 points.
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