2008 Men’s junior African Nations Championship

News  teams  results  standings  match schedule  photos

Final Tunisia edges Egypt for their seventh title Tunis, Tunisia, August 30, 2008- Tunisia added a new title under their built after they cruised past Egypt in straight sets in the final of the 2008 Men’s Junior African Nations Championship here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Saturday to win their seventh cup in the history of this age category. After the final The Tunisian vice Minister of Sports and Youth of Tunisian Ministry of Sport and CAVB Vice President Dr. Bechir Louazir together with President of Esperance club Mr. Seleim Shaibob and CAVB Technical director Mrs. Howyda Mondy crowned the Tunisian team by the gold medals, and the Egyptian team with the silver medals and Morocco with the bronze medals. The competition was attended by Dr. Louazir, Tunisia Volleyball federation President Slim Ben Youssif, Organizing committee President Mr. Zied Boukhris, CAVB vice President and CC President Mr. Majore Timba, CAVB Technical director Mrs. Howyda Mondy, SOC delegate Mr. Morakinyo Ebenzer and Referee delegate Mr. Lahcen Amari.

Ranking 5-8 Cameroon 5th, South Africa 6th , Benin 7th and Botswana 8th    Tunis, Tunisia, August 29, 2008- Cameroon won the fifth position of the 2008 Men’s Junior African Nations Championship following their victory over South Africa, while Benin won the seventh position winning Botswana in the ranking position matches here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Friday.  The competition will feature a fantastic final between the two big arch rivals Egypt and Tunisia to determine the winner of the competition who will clinch automatically the African slot to the 2009 FIVB World Junior Men World Championship. Tunisia who has 6 titles under their built will battle for the seventh record, while the defending champions Egypt seeks he fourth cup and the third in the last four competitions.

Semifinal Tunisia and Egypt to final spot after 2 tie breaks Tunis, Tunisia, August 28, 2008- The organizers Tunisia and the defending champions Egypt secured their tickets to the final spot of the 2008 Men’s Junior African Nations Championship following their thriller victories both through five- set matches over Morocco and Algeria here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Thursday. Tunisia meets Egypt in a classic African final on Saturday while Morocco meets their neighbors for the bronze medal In the ranking matches South Africa and Cameroon beat Botswana and Benin during the semifinal of 5- 8 positions. The winners South Africa plays Cameroon for the 5th and 6th position, while the other encounter between Benin and Botswana will determine the 7th and 8th positions, both matches will be held on Friday.

Day 3 A purely North African semifinal with Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco qualifying Tunis, Tunisia, August 26, 2008- Morocco completed the semifinal draw after they took over Botswana in third and final day of the preliminary round of the 2008 Men’s African Nations Championship to join the already qualified Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt to the final four at the end of the preliminary round here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Tuesday. In a match for the top of Pool A the organizers Tunisia hammered Algeria in straight sets to lead the pool and joined by Algeria to semis. In the same pool South Africa won their first match against Cameroon to finish third leaving Cameroon at the bottom of the pool. Egypt complete their clean sheet and achieved their third victory in a row over Benin to lead pool B and joined by Morocco to semis while Benin came third while Botswana finished at the bottom of the pool. The semifinal will feature two strong encounters on Thursday when Tunisia meets Morocco while Egypt meets Algeria in the other semifinal. In the semifinal of 5-8 positions South Africa plays Botswana and Cameroon faces Benin.

Day 2 Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt to semifinal spot  Tunis, Tunisia, August 25, 2008- The big forces go through to achieve the second victory as the defending champions Egypt, the organizers Tunisia and Algeria succeeded to take over Morocco, Cameroon and South Africa respectively in the second day of the 2008 Men’s African Nations Championship here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Monday. For the second day Tunisia kept their position at the top of the both competition pools. Tunisia and Algeria from pool A and  Egypt from pool B secured their semifinal tickets before the match of the third and final day of the preliminary round on Tuesday. The competition will feature 4 matches at the end of the preliminary round when Tunisia meets Algeria for the top of the pool A and South Africa plays Cameroon in for the third position, while pool B features Morocco vs. Botswana for the second semifinal ticket and Egypt plays Benin. Tunisia vs. Cameroon Tunisia swept Cameroon 3-0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-8) in the widest point ratio in the competition till now. The superstars Elyes Karamosly and Hamza Rezgui played a great role in the victory with their unstoppable hits aided by the rocket services from most of the players in the court. Tunisia improved their Win- loss ratio in Pool A to 2-0 to secure a semifinal slot, while Cameroon dropped to 0-2.

First victory for the big favorites Egypt, Algeria and Morocco Tunis, Tunisia, August 24, 2008- the defending champions Egypt and the big contenders Algeria and Morocco joined the organizers Tunisia as winners of the first day of the 2008 Men’s African Nations Championship following their victories over Botswana, Cameroon and Benin respectively here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Sunday. Tunisia and Egypt led both competition pools before the big clashes of the competition day two when Tunisia meets Cameroon in Pool A and Egypt meets Morocco in the match of the day on Monday. Egypt vs. Botswana The defending champion Egypt needed less than an hour to edge the less experienced Botswana team in straight sets 25-13, 25-16, 25-11. The potent spike service was the Egyptian main tool in the match and was used well to disturb Botswana team reception who was less experienced to deal with. Egypt ended day 1 at the top of pool B ahead of Morocco by the point ratio with a record of 1-0, while Botswana dropped at the bottom of the pool with 0-1 record. The Egyptian coach Emad Nawar was cheered with his team’s performance and also with the standard of the substitutes. “I managed to play with all my players list today to change the strategy of the play and also to give them all the chance before the more important games in the pool and finals.” Said Egyptian Head coach. “We started the match using the middle blockers in the fast attacks specially Mamdou Abdel Moneim, then we changed the strategy using the spike service and wing spikers and thus I used all my players’ skills.” He added.

The organizers Tunisia Tunis, Tunisia, August 23, 2008- The organizers Tunisia started their way successfully after they edged South Africa in the opening match of the 2008 Men’s African Nations Championship here at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Saturday. Tunisia started the match with a shaky performance as they were surprised by the emerging performance of the South African team till they controlled the game with their skillful stars specially the setter Rami Bennour who was chosen by his coach as the match star. “My players started the match very stressed as they were surprised by the performance of the South African team,” Said Tunisia Head CXoach Karray Hedi after the match. “As this is the opening match I’m really satisfied with the performance of my team. Also I think the South African team is a good team and reflecting the improvement of the sport there.” He added.

Drawing of lots The organizers Tunisia drawn in a tough pool Tunis, Tunisia, August 21, 2008- The drawing of lots of the 2008 Men’s Junior African Nations Championship put the organizers Tunisia in a the tough pool A of the competition with Algeria, South Africa and Cameroon. Pool B will feature the defending champions Egypt with Morocco, Benin and Botswana. The opening ceremony of the competition will show one match on Saturday between Tunisia and the emerging South Africa at 18:00 at Sidi Bousaid Hall in Tunis, Tunisia. The competition that held 23 to 30 August 2008 will feature three matches on Sunday as Cameroon plays Algeria in Pool A while pool B shows Egypt vs. Botswana and Morocco vs. Benin. The competition will show a big fight between the participating teams specially the defending champions Egypt and the African big force Tunisia who have 6 titles under their built in this age category as well as the emerging Algerian team and the usually disciplined Morocco team.

Teams are ready to compete for the World Championship Vacancy Tunis, Tunisia, August 21, 2008- All the participating teams of the 2008 Men’s Junior African Nations Championship are ready to compete for the World Championship berth 24 hours before the start of the competition here at Sidi Bousaaeed Hall in Tunis, Tunisia 23 to 30 August 2008. The defending champions Egypt came to Tunisia by a well prepared team that spent a successful camp in England playing with the English National team propagating for the 2012 Olympic Game. Egypt played 5 matches and won one and lost 4 of them. The Egyptian youth team played also against Kuwait first team three matches where they won two of them before finalizing the preparation with three matches against the Indian National team. “We hope to continue the success of the last youth team who qualified to the 2007 World Championship through winning the African competition.” Said the Egyptian coach Emad Nawar.

11 teams registered with all the big forces present Cairo, Egypt, August 8, 2008- A record of 11 teams were registered to participate in the thirteenth Men’s Junior African Nations Championship to be held 23 to 30 August at Palais des Sports El Menzah in Tunis, Tunisia with all the major continental forces present competing for a Men’s Junior World Championship vacancy. The defending champions of the last competition in Morocco 2006 Egypt will be a big team to compete with three previous titles under their built. They had a preparation camp in England under supervision of their coach Emad Nawar where they played four matches and then continued their preparation in a local camp in Cairo. The last two competitions silver medalists Tunisia also comes as big favorites with their promising team full of talent players. They had the record of winning this competition with seven titles.

By Tarek Al Adwar from Tunisia