Algeria, Kenya clinch success on opening day of African Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament
The African Women’s Olympic Qualification volleyball tournament got the green light on Thursday, February 2 in Blida, Algeria.
The tournament started off with four teams from Egypt, Kenya, host Algeria, and Seychelles. Three-day qualification tournament is supposed to end on Saturday, while the top team of the competition will reserve a berth at the upcoming Olympic Games.
The opening day of the tournament featured two matches. Host Algeria went against Egypt, while the reigning African champion Kenya took on the Seychelles. Algeria and Kenya emerged as successful teams of the day1.
Algeria v Egypt
The African Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament was opened with a thrilling encounter between Algeria and Egypt. The hosts enjoyed the competitive edge of playing at home soil and pulled off success in the match.
They posted 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) victory over Egypt and created a chance of celebration for home crowd. Before the start of the match, there were different opinions about the potential outcome of the match. Egypt was considered the most favourite
team of the competition as they had performed well in the recent competitions.
Nevertheless, the Algerian ladies displayed stellar performance and won the match at the loss of only one set. The home team jumped out of the gate and claimed first set of game by posting 25-20 on board.
The Egyptian side hit back strongly in the following set and gave a tough competition to hosts. Both teams remained incredibly close to each other in second set, whereas Egypt managed to profit the two-point advantage at 25-23 and tied the game score.
The Algerian team bounced back in the game in third set and stamped 25-17 win. Egypt struggled to save the match by winning fourth set but all their efforts went futile. Equipped with emotional support of local fans, Algerian team put an end to affair in
fourth set. They captured the final set 25-20 and announced match victory.
Seychelles v Kenya
The second match of day 1 brought Kenyan team in contest with Seychelles. Kenya had experience team-line and finished the match in straight sets. The Seychelles could not match its performance with strong rival and received 0-3 (15-25, 21-25, 23-25) defeat.
The roster of Kenyan team was mostly composed of players, who competed at the 2011 African Nations Championship and represented the continent in the FIVB World Cup.
Team Seychelles dropped the opening set with 10-point margin but considerably improved in the next set. They tried to hinder Kenya’s performance but failed to do so. Kenyans used four-point advantage to win the second set. Gradually, Seychelles players attained
their full form in third set and closely contested. They dropped the third set with narrow margin of two points. On the whole, Kenya proved to be better and achieved victory.
Algeria, which also qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games, has fair chance to earn the Olympic ticket. However, Kenya is also eyeing Olympic qualification. Kenyan team represented African in 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
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