Nigeria, Rwanda, Morocco, Mozambique, Mauritius, Egypt, Niger Republic, and Botswana women teams have qualified for the quarterfinals of the ongoing 2019 Africa Beach Volleyball Cup seniors in Abuja.
Two times Olympian, Doaa Elghobashy and fast-rising Farida El Askalany were impressive in the colours of Egypt pummeling Gambia 2-0 (21-6, 21-13) before beating Nigeria 2-0 (21-19, 21-8) to halt their unbeaten run at the Jabi Lake.
Speaking to newsmen after qualifying, Egypt captain, Dona Elgbobashy said, “Playing with Nigeria was the most difficult game in our pool, but we were focus and determined to win the game, the first set was not so good but we finished stronger than Nigeria in the last set”.
Reacting to the loss against Egypt, Francisca Ikhiede said, “The game against Egypt was not very tough but we lost due to some mistakes but I know we will meet them in the finals and we are not going to lose for the second time, because we are going back to the draw board to improve, because we aiming to finish the tournament as the best team”.
Rwanda female team led by Charlotte Nzaiuzenga and Benith Mukandayisenga continued their fine run beating a relatively young Algeria side 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) after securing their first victory against Niger 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) on Day 1.
Morocco defeated Sudan 2-0 (21-11, 21-13) and Sierra Leone 2-0 (21-9, 21-10) in a one-sided encounter while Botswana lost to Sudan 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) before redeeming her image against Sierra Leone 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-13) in a tightly contested match.
Egypt and Nigeria qualified from Pool A, Rwanda, and Nigeria from Pool B, Morocco, and Botswana from Pool C and Mozambique as well as Mauritius from Pool D.
Meanwhile, in the first match played on Wednesday in the competition’s male category, Mozambique surprisingly beat South Africa 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) while host Nigeria lost 0-2 to Ghana (18-21, 13-21).
The competition’s female category has the teams placed in four pools.
Pool A has Nigeria, Egypt, and the Gambia, while Pool B has Rwanda, Algeria, and Niger.
Also, Pool C has Morocco, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Botswana, while Pool D has Mozambique, Mauritius, and Cote d’Ivoire.
The competition’s male category has in Pool A Nigeria, Ghana, Mauritius, Botswana, and Tanzania, while Pool B has Mozambique, South Africa, Gambia, Sudan, and Zambia.
In Pool, C are Sierra Leone, Angola, Benin Republic, and Cote d’Ivoire, while in Pool D we have Rwanda, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt.
A total of 21 countries are participating in the championships which began on Monday at the Jabi Lake and will end on April 28.
The tournament is being hosted by the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) in conjunction with the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB).
