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Durban, South
Africa, March 11-: Al Ahly of
Egypt
clinched the title of the 25th African
clubs Championship in Durban, South
Africa following their thriller victory
over their North African compatriot,
Sfax of Tunisia in the final match held
at Fred Crookes Sports complex in Durban
Institute of Technology in presence of
The South African Provincial Sports
Minister, Amichand Rajbansi. Al Ahly
increased his record of gaining the cup
to 8 times since the start of the
competition in 1982.
Al Ahly won the final in straight sets
in 65 minutes (25-23, 25-12, 25-14) in a
match appeared easier than expected due
to their strong spike service. “We
studied our opponent well since the
start of the competition and we used
this to penetrate through their weakness
points in reception,” Said Ahly Head
coach Nour Attia after the match. “I
want to thank my players for their
exceelent performance all through the
competition” He added. Al Ahly and Sfax
started the match with the main line up
played in the last matches. The match
went point by point in the start till
the draw 4-4 when Sfax used the strong
service of Hosni Karmosli and Mohamed
Trabelsi to lead 8-6. Al Ahly used the
strong spikers Ahmed salah and Hamdy El
Safy to lead 8-6. They also deployed the
solid block of Mohamed Elsayed and Usama
Komsan to continue leading till they won
the set 25-23.
The second set was the set of spike
services as Al Ahly had more than half
of the set points by the strong spike
services of Ahmed Salah who won two
individual prizes, the best server and
the MVP and Mahmoud El Komy. Al Ahly led
widely 8-3 and 16-9 when El Safy and
Usama Komsan played a great role in
using the mistakes of Tunisian players
in reception. Al Ahly won the set easily
25-12.
In the third set the Tunisian players
lost their motivation and continued the
reception mistakes although their head
coach the Serbian Milan Zarkovic made
many substitutions to stop the efficient
service of Ahly. Ahmed Salah and El Safy
again played a great role in spiking and
serving to allow Ahly to win 25-14 and
gain the cup.
In the Bronze medal match Mouloudia of
Algeria defeated Port Douala of Cameroon
3-1 (28-26, 25-19, 22-25, 25-22) in an
exciting match lasted 89 minutes. Port
started the match as the better side
using the disturbed defense of Mouloudia.
They kept their rhythm and led till they
reached the set point through the strong
spikes of Simon Noah and Herman Engalo.
Mouloudia came to the set in the
suitable time when they deployed their
well known solid block and won the set
28-26. Mouloudia dominated the net in
the second set through their stars Samir
Ferad and Ali Kerboua to win the set
easily 25-19. Port tried to save the
match in the third set so they adjusted
their back line defense and block to
lead 8-6 and 14-11. Port setter Patrick
Tagny began to do a good job to deceive
Mouloudia’s block to keep his team pace
and succeeded to lead his team to win
25-22. Mouloudia regained their high
performance in net skills to lead the
fourth set from the start till Port
improved their defense to draw 20-20
before Mouloudia won the critical points
of the set to clinch the set 25-22 and
the match 3-1.
In the ranking matches K C Bank of Kenya
won the 5th position following the
victory over their Arch Rivals GSU 3-1
(25-22, 25-22, 15-25, 25-17). KC Bank
players were more motivated to pull of
the victory and used their efficient
spikers Philip Maiyo and Patrick Owino
to penetrate the block of GSU which lack
concentration. After KC Bank won the
first and second sets, GSU came to the
match with their prominent stars David
Opiyo and Elphas Biwott to win the third
set. KC Bank regained their performance
to win the fourth set and the important
match against their neighbors leaving
them in the sixth position.
TWR of South Africa needed 59 minutes to
overcome their nation side Cigma in
straight sets 28-26, 25-20, 25-13 to
bring the seventh position while Cigma
was ranked eighth.
INDIVIDUAL
PRIZES:
· Best Spiker: Simon Noah, Port Douala
(Cameroon)
· Best Blocker: Mohamed Trabelsi, CC
Sfax (Tunisia)
· Best Server: Ahmed Salah, Al Ahly (Al
Ahly)
· Best Reception: Anwar Taduarghi, CC
Sfax (Tunisia)
· Best Setter: Hassan Sola, Mouloudia
(Algeria)
· Best Defender: Elisha Eliwa, KC Bank
(Kenya)
· Most Valuable Player MVP: Ahmad Salah,
Al Ahly (Egypt)
FINAL RANKING:
1. Al Ahly (Egypt)
2. CC Sfax (Tunisia)
3. Mouloudia (Algeria)
4. Port Douala (Cameroon)
5. KC Bank (Kenya)
6. GSU (Kenya)
7. TWR (South Africa)
8. Cigma (South Africa)
By Tarek Al Adwar from Durban, South
Africa
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