Tunisia continue victories as Congo overcome Niger at World Champs qualifier

2014 Men’s World championship- Day 2 African qualifiers Pool V

Tunis, Tunisia, March 4, 2014- Hosts Tunisia maintained their superior performance and secured the second victory over Senegal 3-0 in the second day the 2014 Men’s World Championships qualification tournament, Pool V held at Palais des Sports Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Tuesday.

In another thrilling match of the day Congo Brazzaville started their tournament’s campaign with exciting win against Niger in a five set Marathon 3-2 (25-17, 35-37, 14-25, 25-17, 15-12).

Tunisia led the 5 nation round robin tournament with a win- loss ratio of 2-0 (6 pts), followed by Seychelles, 1-0 (3 Pts) and Congo Brazzaville 1-0 (2 pts)

Niger v Congo Brazzaville 3-2 (25-17, 35-37, 14-25, 25-17, 15-12)

Congo Brazzaville rebounded from a set behind 1-2 to win a thrilling tiebreaker 3-2 (25-17, 35-37, 14-25, 25-17, 15-12) in 112 minutes.

Congo team started the match with the upper hand as they controlled the net action through their strong attacks using the opposite attacker Nkouka Abrahys and the tight blocks of Louoni Gampourou, so they went easily to win the first set 25-17.

The second set showed marvelous performance from both teams in a set lasting 35 minutes where Niger showed a lot of improvement in reception and backline defense and thus they could win the tough set 37-35. The Niger players’ motivations improved a lot and enable them with the tight block of Djibril Amadou to win the third set widely 25-14.

Congo regained their rhythm and concentration and succeeded to win the fourth set 25-17 and extend the match to the tiebreak. Congo maintained their dominance to reach 8-5 at court turn and continued their superior performance till they won the set 15-12.

Playing their first match, Congo record became 1-0, while Niger dropped to 0-2.

Tunisia v Senegal 3-0 (25-16, 25-7, 25-17)

Tunisia claimed their tournament second victory over Senegal 3-0 (25-16, 25-7, 25-17) in a match lasting 56 minutes. Tunisia improved their win- loss ratio to 2-0, while Senegal dropped to 0-2.

Tunisia started the match with the main line up and used the strong spike service to disturb Senegal team. They led widely till 16-8 at second TTO before Senegal showed solid defense to maintain the point deficit as Tunisia won 25-16.

Tunisia overwhelmed the match completely in the second set and used the weak reception to advance widely and win the set 25-7. Again Tunisia with most of the substitutes continued their hard work to win 2-17 in the third set after the best of their opponent’s performance.

The winner of the round robin tournament will earn the third African ticket to the Men’s World championship in Poland in August 30 to September 21.

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Tunisia’s women make volleyball history with well earned ticket to Women’s World Championship

Tunisia’s women make volleyball history with well earned ticket to Women’s World Championship

Their joy knew no bounds when Tunisia’s female volleyball players made history in the backyard of their fierce rivals Kenya.

A 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 15-25, 28-26, 15-10) win against hot favourites Kenya on Saturday was enough to secure Tunisia the first of two African tickets to the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship from September 23 to October 12 in Italy. The team from the north of the continent will line up among the best teams in the world for the first time for 28 years.

“We have accomplished our mission that we came for in Nairobi, and that was to qualify for the World Championship,” said Tunisia’s coach Messelimani Mohamed. “We knew it would be difficult to beat them on their home ground, but it’s a good team and we knew what to expect since we played them in the Africa Nations Cup.” The two teams returned to the venue six months after they clashed in the African Cup of Nations last September. Kenya defeated Tunisia in straight sets to win their eighth continental title in front of their home fans. This time, however, the fans of the Kenyan team went home stunned – having qualified five times in a row, the African champions will be mere spectators during this year’s FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.

“Tunisia break Kenya’s queens’ hearts,” was the fitting headline in a local newspaper. Kenya’s long-term coach David Lung’aho revealed the reasons behind the Tunisian success. “Tunisia has always been a good side and the win over Kenya just shows they have studied us well. They beat us tactically and we congratulate them on the win.” Prior to the game, the Kenyan coach had appeared full of confidence: “We have played against Tunisia many times and they have never beaten us.” However, Tunisia has put an end to his team’s period of dominance on the African continent.

Tunisian coach Messelimani Mohammed left out a number of star players, including outside hitter Nihel Ghoul and setter Maroua Brahoum, who starred for the team during the African Cup of Nations. However, the young team more than made up for their absence with an outstanding team spirit: “My players were ready to play their hearts out.”

They overcame even the greatest difficulties in that all-important match against Kenya. Impressive hitter Kaouther Jemaii was shown a red card in the third set for arguing with the referee. However, the world No. 27 then showed remarkable fighting spirit to turn around a 2-1 deficit. This result meant the Tunisian team ended the qualifying tournament undefeated – before the 3-2 win against Kenya, the team had previously triumphed 3-0 against Mozambique, Seychelles and Uganda, as well as securing a 3-1 victory over Senegal.

The historic success will also raise the profile of women’s volleyball in Tunisia. The country’s news agency and newspapers reported on the triumph, while news of the success was highlighted in red on the Tunisian Volleyball Federation’s website. The focus is usually clearly on the men’s national team, which has successfully qualified for the last three World Championships in a row. And the fourth qualification looks set to follow shortly: Tunisia is both the host and hot favourite at the last African qualifying tournament from March 2 to 8, when they will battle it out against the Seychelles, Congo Brazzaville, Senegal and Niger for a ticket to the FIVB Men’s World Championships. Maybe Tunisia will have two reasons to celebrate.

Whatever happens, the Tunisian ladies will travel to the World Championship as rank outsiders. The team has only appeared in the competition, which sees the top teams in the world go head to head for supremacy, on two occasions in the past: Tunisia finished 23rd in 1978 and 16th on their most recent appearance in 1986. And the Tunisian’s three triumphs in the African Championship also came well back in 1985, 1987 and 1999.

Tunisia qualification means that 17 of 24 teams have been decided for the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championships. Before them, seven European teams had already come through their qualifying tournaments on the first weekend of 2014: the winners of the five third-round qualifying tournaments – Turkey, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, and Bulgaria – as well as the top two second-placed teams Serbia and the Netherlands. They joined hosts Italy, defending champions Russia and Germany from Europe, Brazil and Argentina from South America, and Japan, China, Thailand and Kazakhstan from Asia.

The 18th team will be known by the time the lots are drawn on March 10 in Parma, Italy. From February 23 to March 1, hosts Algeria, Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo will battle for the second African ticket. The destination of the remaining six tickets will be determined after the drawing of lots.

The five qualifying tournaments in the NORCECA confederation (each with four teams) will be played in May with hosts Cuba (May 5 to 11), USA, Canada, the Dominican Republic (all from May 13 to 19) and Puerto Rico (May 20 to 26). The winner of each group will qualify for the World Championship, while the group runners-up go through to a play-off for the final place with six teams from June 2 to 9 in Trinidad.

One certainty is that the most dominant team in Africa in recent years, Kenya, will watch the highlight of the season from home. They can now focus solely on the team’s debut in the FIVB World Grand Prix from the July 25 to August 24.

Pools P to S include eight teams: Kenya, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Bulgaria and Australia. Coach David Lung’aho: “For us, we just have to go back to the drawing board as this is a big wake up call for us to re-strategise.”

Tunisia are currently the number one team in Africa on the back of their qualification for the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship.

Tunisia and Seychelles record first win at World Championship qualifier

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2014 Men's World championship- Day 1 African qualifiers Pool V

Tunisia and Seychelles start their campaign at the 2014 Men’s World Championships qualification tournament, Pool V as winners when they defeated Niger and Senegal respectively in the opening day of the tournament held at Palais des Sports Hall in Tunis, Tunisia on Monday.

Tunisia started the 5 nation tournament successfully aided by the local crowd to defeat Niger 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-12), while Seychelles surprised the more experienced Senegal with a 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19) victory.

Seychelles v Senegal 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19)

Seychelles used the quick attacks through position 3 to claim a victory 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-19) against Senegal in the opening match of the competition. Seychelles started the first set aggressively through strong service that put the Senegalese under pressure.

Senegal came back strongly in the second set after they improved their defense and blocking activity to win set and draw 1-1. Seychelles regained their starting rhythm to win both third and fourth sets and secured the first victory.

Tunisia v Niger 3-0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-12)

Tunisia played with most of the line up to clinch a straight sets win over Niger (25-16, 25-13, 25-12) in 60 minutes. The Tunisian coach started the first set with the main line up and then he made frequent substitutions in the second set where he fielded some substitutes but the same strategy of using the spike services and strong attacke through the wing spikers maintained. The match showed a good come back for the Tunisian opposite Hicham El Kaabi who served very well and helped to put Niger team under big pressure in the third set when he scored 4 aces.

The winner of the round robin tournament will earn the third African ticket to the Men’s World championship in Poland in August 30 to September 21.

Two African tickets to the Men’s World Championship were already determined after Cameroon won pool T in Yaoundé and Egypt clinched Pool U in Nairobi.

Standings

1. Tunisia 3 pts 3-0

2. Seychelles 3 pts 3-1

3. Senegal 0 pts 1-3

4. Niger 0 pts 0-3

5. Congo Brazzaville ——-

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We are optimistic of clinching the World Volleyball Championship ticket, Tunisian coach

2014 Men’s World championship – African qualifiers Pool V

The coaches of the 2014 World Championships qualification tournament, Pool V in Tunisia showed different hopes towards the qualification to the 2014 Men’s World Championship finals in Poland during the tournament hosted at Palais des Sport Hall in Tunis, Tunisia March 3 to 7, 2014.

Tunisian coach Fathy Mkaouer mentioned that his team is big favourite, but the players should do their utmost during the matches. He also pointed out that his players are now ready to compete for the first position after the long preparations to the prestigious event. We prepared locally for this tournament because the players were busy with their clubs in the Arab club championship which finished last week.

Seychelles coach Ally Francois said that the team is ready to compete after good preparation for two weeks in Mauritius. “We played 6 matches there among them three with the Mauritian team before coming back home for two more weeks of preparations. We are coming here to show good volleyball and qualify among the more experienced teams.

Senegal coach Assane Diallo confirmed that they had only local preparations in their country for 3 months. “We couldn’t play international matches and only friendly matches with clubs in Dakar were played. We need to concentrate to beat those strong teams here. We know qualification wouldn’t be easy but we will do our best.”

Niger head coach Douka Aboubacar said that the 10 days they stayed in Algeria in their way to the qualification tournament had a lot of benefit to the team specially they played against several Algerian clubs. “Now we are ready to compete. We know it is difficult to beat those big teams specially Tunisia between their spectators, but we will use the experience we gained from the participation in Zone 3 competition in Cote d’Ivoire.

Congo Brazzaville coach Vingha Charlemagne showed that his team had outside preparations in Cameroon and DR Congo where they played a lot of matches against the clubs there. “We had a weak local league, but my players worked hard during the friendly matches and now we are able to compete for the last World championship slot, We can do it.”

The winner of the round robin tournament will earn the third African ticket to the Men’s World championship in Poland in August 30 to September 21.

Match Schedule

3-Mar-14

1 16:00 Senegal (SEN) X Seychelles (SEY)

2 18:00 Niger (NIG) X Tunisia (TUN)

4-Mar-14

3 16:0 Congo Brazzaville (CGO) X. Niger (NIG)

4 18:00 Tunisia (TUN) X Senegal (SEN)

5-Mar-14

5 16:00 Senegal (SEN) X Congo Brazzaville (CGO)

6 17:00 Seychelles (SEY) X Tunisia (TUN)

6-Mar-14

7 16:00 Congo Brazzaville (CGO) X Seychelles (SEY)

8 18:00 Niger (NIG) X Senegal (SEN)

7-Mar-14

9 14:30 Seychelles (SEY) X Niger (NIG)

10 17:00 Tunisia (TUN) X Congo Brazzaville (CGO)

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2014 Women’s World championship- Day 5 Pool U – Tunisia beat Kenya to qualify for World Championships

By Oscar Piliplili, KVF Press officer

Tunisia earned their first ever FIVB World Championships ticket after they defeated Kenya 3-2 (25-21, 24-26, 15-25, 28-26, 15-10) in decisive African Pool “U” qualification tournament at Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, Kenya on Saturday.

Tunisia completed the tournament with win-loss ratio of 5-0 while Kenya dropped to 4-1.

Tunisia shocked Kenya when they gained the first point of the set but Maissa Lengliz hit the net to give the home team their first point. A wide serve by Tunisia and successful blocks by Makuto and and Agala handed the home team two more points to take 3-1 lead.

Tunisia powerful attackers Kaouther Jemaii and Barhoumi Marwa were outstanding in attack as they gained points to propel their team to 6-5 and 8-7 advantage at the first technical time out.

Inaccurate serving cost Kenya at least two points before the first official break. Mercy Moim spike from the centre helped Kenya to level the scores 8-8 but Jemaii crasher put Kenya ahead with one point advantage.

Tunisia gained a service ace that extended their lead to 12-9 forcing Kenyan coach to call time out. Tunisia combination of Messera Hlima, Fatma Agreb and Kaouther were outstanding in the attack with successful blocks and attacks. Kenya reception was wanting as Tunisia raced to 15-12 lead and went on to maintain their lead taking 16-13 advantage at the second break.

Kenya improved their attacks through Ruth Jepleting and Moim to narrow the gap to one point at 19-18. Lungaho introduced Wanja in place of Wacu at 21-20 in favour of Tunisia. Tunisia maintained tempo to win the set 25-21.

Inspired by first set victory, Tunisia started the second set with more fire power, penetrating Kenya’s porous blocks to score points and take 8-7 lead at the time out.

But the hosts cheered on by the capacity crowd at the gymnasium gained a narrow 16-15 lead at the second time out. Tension gripped Kenyan team as Tunisia closed the gap to 22-21 but a blockbuster by Makuto on the left saw the home team regain two points lead at 23-21 before cruising to 26-24 set victory.

The third set started on cracking note with both team fighting to gain control of the match. Tunisia’s controversial player Kaouther was shown a red card for arguing with referee number one of Cameroon. The red card followed a yellow that Kaouther had been given in the second set over the same argument. But the red card in volleyball applies to all team members and it means that any player who misbehaves in the affected side is sent out. A charged Kenyan team did not waste time as they went ahead to open commanding 22-13 lead before bagged the set 25-15.

Tunisia raced to 8-4 lead in the fourth set and opened four points gap at 12-8 before assuming 16-9 advantage, the difference that silenced the home crowd. Tunisia dominated the proceedings taking 17-12 lead before the home girls fought gallantly to narrow the gap to 19-18. The teams tied at 20-20 before Kenya rushed to one point lead at 21-20. Thereafter the set turned into a one point game before Tunisia took the set 28-26.

Tunisia continued their superb performance to win the tiebreak 15-10.

Senegal rallied from one set down to defeat Uganda 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-22) in a thrilling match to bring their win-loss record to 3-2 and finish in the third position.

The first few minutes of play saw both teams exchange leads at the some point tying at 5-5 before Uganda’s Eunice Amuron powerful attck saw the neighbors open a one point lead at the first Technical time to lead 8-7. Uganda picked from where they left thanks to good combination of Eunice Nuwabiga, Astreede Agaaba and Moreen Mwamula that picked quick points thanks to Agaabas’s powerful attcks to open a 4 point lead at 22-8 few minutsUganda were ahead of the Senegal

Seychelles shrugged off stiff challenge from rejuvenated Mozambique to win the match 3-2 (24-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 15-13) to bring their win loss record to 1-4 and finish in position five.

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Volleyball ! Kenya and Tunisia renew rivalry in chase for World Championships ticket

By Oscar Pilipili, KVF press officer

Africa will know the first of its two teams to represent the continent in the Italy’s 2014 FIVB Women’s World Championships after Kenya plays Tunisia in the African Qualifiers Pool “U” deciding match at Moi International Sports Center Nairobi on Saturday February 22, 2014.

Kenya and Tunisia are tied on 12 points after each team won its four opening matches in the round robin tournament that is featuring six teams. But Kenya is placed on top of Tunisia with superior sets ratio of 1.66 against 1.47.

Winners of the deciding match claim one of the two tickets reserved for Africa at the World Championships that would be held in Italy September 23 to October 12, 2014.

The two teams return to the venue exactly six months after they clashed in the African Cup of Nations last September. Kenya defeated Tunisia in straight sets to win their eighth continental title before home fans.

Kenyan coach David Lungaho is confident that his flamboyant girls would do a repeat performance and defeat the ambitious North Africans again.

“We have played against Tunisia many times and they have never beaten me, I don’t want this to be the first time,” “Lungaho told journalists during press conference after Kenya beat Seychelles 3-0 sets to record their fourth straight victory.

Lungaho who is one of the longest serving national teams’ coaches in Africa has retained the same squad that defeated Tunisia in their last meeting.

They include Captain Bracksides Khadambi, Mercy Moim, Jane Wacu, Everline Makuto, Elizabeth Nafula, Ruh Jepngetich, Janet Wanja and Diana Khisa. Centre Joan Chelagat is the only new face in Lungaho team that is seeking its sixth appearance at the World Championships.

Lungaho hopes that his powerful attacker Moim, who was named MVP during the last African Cup of Nations would overcome the grief of losing her mother and help Kenya qualify for the worlds.

“Moim wants to see Kenya qualify for the World Championships and she has assured that she would be with us on Saturday,” he said.

Moim’s mother passed on one day before Kenya met Seychelles in their fourth match of the tournament on Thursday. She managed to play against Seychelles.

Unlike the Kenyan squad that remains unchanged, Tunisia coach Messelimani Mohammed has left out star players who were in Nairobi last August.

They include outside hitter Nihel Ghoul and setter Maroua Brahoum who starred for the team during the African Cup of Nations.

Mohamed said: “The match between Tunisia and Kenya would very tough considering that a world ticket is on offer. The Kenyan team is strong but my players are ready to play their hearts out. The four wins they have recorded have improved their confidence although they played against modest opposition.”

Mozambique would seeking their first victory of the tournament when they take on Seychelles in the first match of the day at 12pm. Uganda who have two victories face Senegal in the second match of the final day that would be broadcast live on Zuku Sports Channel 300 HD. The last match between Kenya and Tunisia will also be live on the television station.

Results

Day 1 Feb 16
Mozambique 0 Tunisia 3 (11-25, 12-25, 14-25)
Kenya 3 Uganda 0 (25-16, 25-10, 25-14)
Senegal 3 Seychelles 1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22)

Day 2 Feb 17
Uga 3 Sey 2 (19-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-17, 15-12)
Sen 1 Tun 3 (17-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-25)
Ken 3 Moz 0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-19)

Day 3 Feb 19
Moz 1 Uga 3 (19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-25)
Sey 0 Tun 3 (22-25, 20-25, 19-25)
Sen 1 Ken 3 (19-25, 12-25, 25-17, 11-25)

Day 4 Feb 20
Uga 0 v Tun 3 (14-25, 8-25, 19-25)
Moz 0 v Sen 3 (13-25, 14-25, 14-25)
Ken 3 v Sey 0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-11)

Day 5 Feb 22
12pm: Sey v Moz
2pm: Sen v Uga
4pm: Tun v Ken

Standings.

Rank Points. Matches. Won

1 KENYA 12 4

2 TUNISIA 12 4

4 SENEGAL 6 2

3 UGANDA 5. 2

5 SEYCHELLES 1. 0

6 MOZAMBIQUE 0 0

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