Mauritius becomes first country to clinch Olympic berth via Women’s Continental Cup – Volleyball news
Women’s duos from Mauritius worked out a wonderful feat at the finals of CAVB Women’s Beach Volleyball Continental Cup and advanced to the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The last leg of the African Continental Cup held in Rwanda at the weekend. The Palm Beach in Gusenyi provided the backdrop for the thrilling encounters. Duos from Mauritius proved their endeavours and used the golden set to reserve a spot in the Olympics.
Mauritius, the gold medallists of All Africa Games, defeated Kenya on the final day of the African Continental Cup. The two sides appeared in a total of four matches but situation remained undecided in the end. Following the deadlock of 2-2, a golden set
was played in order to determine the winners. Mauritius captured the 15-point golden set and settled for 3-2 victory.
Mauritius head of delegation Reza Otoola regretted the loss of opening set in the first match. In his opinion, Kenya’s strong defence made a difference in the match.
He further added, “In the second set, once we were ahead of the score at 7-4, they played naturally and they have put pressure on the Kenyans and clinched the second set 21-17. We were risking getting out the final at 12-10 on tie break in favour of Kenya,
but fortunately our girls came back strong, with spike and in defence to get the four points that we needed to stay alive.”
Success in the Olympic Qualification Tournament turned out to be a big milestone for Mauritius. The country not only advanced to the 2012 London Olympic but also added the second gold to its count. Previously, Mauritius bagged gold medal victory at the 2011
All Africa Games.
Kenyan ladies fought bravely but dropped the first chance to qualify for the Olympics. They will now compete at the upcoming FIVB World Cup, which will provide them with another chance to live-up their dream of playing at the Horse Guards Parade in London.
The 2012 FIVB Women’s Beach Volleyball World Cup is scheduled to take place in Italy. The city of Tortoli will host the cracking action of beach volleyball at the end June.
Elsewhere, duos from Mozambique and South Africa came into stride for the third position in the African Continental Cup. The bronze-medal contest progressed in the similar fashion as two contenders played a golden set to grab success.
The ambitious Mozambique pairs pulled off success by winning golden set, 15-11. Mozambique got hold of the third position at the African Continental Cup. In the next run, Mozambique will have another chance to qualify for the Olympics via 2012 FIVB World
Cup in Italy.
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