•Volleyball
The Egypt U-17 female volleyball team defeated their hosts, Nigeria, 3-1 in the final match to lift the trophy of the 2023 Girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship.
The match was played indoors in the sports hall of Moshood Abiola National Stadium (Package B) yesterday in Abuja, reports The PUNCH.
The Egyptians showed their supremacy in the championship.
Egypt won the first set 25-21, while Nigerian girls fought to win the second set 25-20.
Egypt fought back to win the third set 25-22 and also won the fourth set 25-21.
This is a new category that the Conference of African Volleyball introduced into the continental championship.
After the match, the coach of the Nigerian team, Sunday Akapson, said he was not happy that he lost the final match.
He said the girls finished second, but they had a good performance, and he was proud of them.
“These are young girls, and this is their first time playing in an international championship; they fought hard to secure a ticket for the World Cup next year.
“This is a very good grassroots sport for Nigerian volleyball in general, and we will continue to work on these girls to prepare them for future encounters,” he said.
He said the Federation had promised to give them adequate support to prepare ahead of the world event next year.
“We are going to make Nigerians proud, and in 10 years to come, they will represent the country in the Olympics,” he said.
The captain of the Nigerian team, Mirabel Onyegwu, received the Most Valuable Player Award.
Onyegwu said they played to win the championship but could not, adding that they would continue to work for the next edition.
“We will work harder to win next year’s championship, and Nigerians should expect that we are going to bring back the trophy for the World Cup,” she said.
The coach of Egypt, Islam Tayea, congratulated his girls for the victory, adding that it was well-deserved.
“The girls have been in camp for six months, working day and night for this competition.
“This is just a new category by CAVB, and the girls did well in all their games.
“We came intending to win all our matches in the tournament, and we played well to achieve our target.
“We will return home to prepare for the world championship,” he said.
The captain of Egypt, Elsafy Nour, said they worked hard for the championship.
“We came with the mind to win the competition; we have been in camp for eight months preparing for the championship.
“This is our first experience outside Egypt for the competition; the weather is very hot, but we are used to it because it also gets hot in Egypt.
Egypt finished first, Nigeria second, and Cameroon third.
The 2023 Girls U-17 African Nations Volleyball, which started on Saturday, ended yesterday.
