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5 teams compete for a
World Championship Vacancy
 Nairobi, Kenya, September 7, 2008- The Africa junior
women volleyball championship has attracted five top
countries after South Africa and Mauritius pulled out as
the defending champions Egypt as well as the organizers
Kenya, Tunisia, Seychelles and Senegal will compete for
the African slot in the 2009 Women’s Junior World
Championship. The round robin championship starts on
Monday and ends on Friday 12 September.
With the two countries out, Confederation of African
Volleyball (CAVB) technical director Howyda Mondy said
the competition will be played on a round robin format.
That leaves five countries parading their best talent to
battle for the exclusive ticket to represent Africa in
the world championship in Mexico City next July
The withdrawal of the two teams means that the
tournament will be played on a round robin format with
Kenya having to test their skills against all the four
opponents. The winner will them clinch the ticket to
Central America.
Mondy said that CAVB President Elwani was in discussion
with the FIVB to see if Africa can be added another slot
as a way to encourage participation and help improve the
experience and exposure level of African teams at the
world level. However, at the moment, it is only one
ticket allocated to the continent.
President of the control committee Touria Aarab said
that the level of competition is in doubt high with the
best talent on display.
“The hospitality in Nairobi is great. The organizing
committee have done their work well and so far we are
happy, but the low turnout does not justify the standard
of the sports in the continent. I hope you will play a
role in encouraging other CAVB members to turn up in
future competitions,” said Aarab
Other than Kenya the others countries in the
championship are Egypt, Tunisia, Seychelles and Senegal.
Kenya’s national head coach Paul Bitok said that his
side is ready for the challenge and said he has got the
best skills and talent from the local players. Kenya is
keen to mould a new generation of volleyballers to take
over from the senior team with the 2012 Olympics being
the target.
The KVF chairman, Waithaka Kioni has expressed his
ambitions to develop a young team and the Africa junior
championship, provides a best platform to test the
youngster’s ability and rank themselves among the
continent’s best.
Bitok noted that unlike the other teams, the Kenyan
players were the least exposed but they juniors were
determined to win in front of their home fans.
The defending champions Egypt comes with a competitive
team led by the experienced coach Hesham Badrawy and had
a preparation program in the last few weeks.
Seychelles team wants to repeat their surprises when
they participated as underdogs in the last competition
in Alexandria, Egypt but finally they succeeded to
finish as runner up.
Tunisia also is a great contender for the title with a
new generation of skillful players while Senegal
repeated their regular participation in this age
category.
Match Schedule
Monday
Senegal vs Tunisia 15:00
Kenya vs Seychelles 17:00
Tuesday
Seychelles vs Senegal 15:00
Kenya vs Egypt 17:00
Wednesday
Senegal vs Egypt 15:00
Tunisia vs Seychelles 17:00
Thursday
Tunisia vs Egypt 15:00
Kenya vs Senegal 17:00
Friday
Egypt vs Seychelles 15:00
Kenya vs Tunisia 17:00
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