Egypt beats Cameroon 3-1 and books a slot in FIVB Men’s World Cup - Volleyball
A first place finish was expected from the defending champions, Egypt, at the 2011 Men’s African Nations Volleyball Championship, which covered its length from September 23-29 in Tangier, Morocco. The Egyptians were quick to meet expectations as they stem
rolled their way into the finals and then conquered first place.
A total of eight best teams from the African continent joined the competition and showcased their skill. Egypt worked out a great performance and once again emerged as the African champion. The Egyptian team remained remarkably consistent and paved its way
to the final match on Thursday, September 29. From the other side, Cameroon did exceptionally well and joined Egypt in the final showdown of the championship.
Egypt proved to be better team in the competition and defeated Cameroon in a four-set final match. Cameroon started out well and provided some early burns to Egypt by snatching opening set at 25-20. However, Egypt fought its way back in the game and captured
the following three sets in a row, 25-18, 25-20, 25-22. Success in the final match of African Nations Championship awarded Egypt a ticket to the 2011 FIVB World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Japan from November 20 to December 4.
The African champions will now take part in the Olympic qualifying event, with the top three from there earning a berth at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The Head Coach of Egypt, Sherif El Shemerly, was delighted with the victory. He admired the great sport environment in Morocco and especially thanked the audience for their utmost support. He expressed his emotions in the following manner: “I’m very happy
to achieve my first title with the senior national team after a lot of achievements with the youth and junior teams and now we are looking forwards to represent Africa in the World Cup. I’m happy with the performance of all my players because most of them
apply our strategy against a strong team like Cameroon.”
Cameroon opened the match as the better side and picked up an early lead of 8-5 with convincing attacks of Jean Ndaki from position 2 and Didier Sali in position 4. Egyptians demonstrated good reception but serve errors made them suffer. Cameroon stayed
ahead of Egypt and made the next stop at 16-12. Ahmed Salah and Abdalla Abdel Salam struggled to bring Egypt back on track but Cameroonian middle blockers stopped them right away. Egypt dropped the opening set by trailing behind 5 points, 20-25.
The loss of opening set was enough to teach a lesson to the defending champions. They regrouped themselves and came up with an improved plan to fight back. The second set was closely contested. Nevertheless, Egypt levelled the game score by winning second
set, 25-18. Mohamed Abdel Moneim of Egypt helped his team to improve to 2-1 in match by winning third set as well. Cameroon emerged back in the fourth set to save the match with 8-7 lead. They used Ndaki to hammer the Egyptians but could not avoid the chances
of defeat. Egypt closed off the fourth set at 25-22 and settled for gold.
Tags: