Cumbi sisters want to represent Africa in 2012 London Olympic Games - Volleyball
The Cumbi Sisters are a beach volleyball team comprised of Rezia and Amilia Cumbi from Mozambique who have big ambitions of representing Africa in the upcoming London Olympic Games.
The struggling beach volleyball players, who recently participated in the zonal-phase qualifying beach volleyball tournament in Mozambique, were grouped in Pool E, which was composed of teams from Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, and
Mauritius. The tournament took place from July 15 to 17 at Maputo Beach, Mozambique. The home country was represented by two pairs including the Cumbi Sisters and Satira Shongo and Guilhermina Cossa.
The Cumbi Sister put up a great show of Beach Volleyball for the home crowd and received huge applause. They performed exquisitely well throughout the tournament and created a chance of celebration for local fans by winning the gold medal.
On the final day of the tournament, tandem of Rezia and Amilia Cumbi played three matches. In the first encounter, they posted a wonderful straight set win over Mauritius’ Majorie Nadal and Prisca Sarungen. Home duo took full advantage of the emotional support
of crowd and opened the day on a very good note. Anyhow, the duo dropped the second set to another team from Mauritius, which was composed of Natasha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yak. The final match provided another chance to Mauritius and Mozambique to settle
down the tussle. Both teams once again took their position in the centre court. Luck was definitely on Cumbi Sisters’ side. They defeated the guest team from Mauritius and seized gold-medal.
Now after winning the zonal-phase, duo of Amelia and Rezia Cumbi set new target for them. They want to use their victory as a stepping stone for upcoming Continental Cup of African Teams, which will help them reserve berths in the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Amelia clearly expressed the urge to play at the mega international sports gala of Olympics in London next year after gold medal victory. She said: “We are keen to represent Africa in the London Olympic Games through winning this exciting Continental Cup,
but it is not easy to realize this dream. We know we will come up against difficult teams in the second round and at the finals of the Continental Cup but we will do our best to turn the dreams into reality.”
However, the road to the 2012 London Olympic is not easy. A total of 35 countries are competing for the empty slot and each country has the right to send two teams of both genders in the competition. The participating countries have been divided into five
major groups, which are further subdivided into 10 sub-zonal groups. According to the set formula of CAVB, successful teams of the sub-zonal phase will advance to the Zonal phase.
The sub-zonal phase will feature nine tournaments and teams with better ranking will play in the zonal stage, which will feature five tournaments. In the end, only eight countries will remain on the set to fight for the final spots. Cumbi Sister have successfully
covered the early stage but they have to work really hard in order to live the Olympic dream.
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