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 News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the match was played at the package of the Moshood Abiola Stadium on Thursday in Abuja.
The Egyptians showed their supremacy in the championship.
Egypt won the first set 25-21 while Nigeria 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
NAN reports that this is a new category that the Conference of African Volleyball (CAVB) introduced into the continental championship.
After the match, Coach of Nigeria 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 an international championship; they fought hard to secure a ticket for the World Cup next year.
“This is a very good grassroots sports for Nigeria Volleyball in general, we will continue to work on these girls to prepare them for future encounter,” 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 Olympics,” he said.
Captain of Nigeria 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 the next year 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 a victory well deserved.
“The girls have been in camp four 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 game.
“We came with the intention to win all our matches in the tournament and we played well to achieve our target.
“We will go back home to prepare for the world championship,” he said.
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.