Egypt’s U-17 female volleyball team emerged as the U-17 African Nations volleyball champions on Thursday.
They defeated their hosts, Nigeria, 3-1 in the final to lift the trophy.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the match was played at the Moshood Abiola Stadium on Thursday in Abuja.
Egypt won the first set 25-21, while the Nigerian girls fought back to win the second set 25-20. Egypt then won 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, the coach of the Nigerian team, Sunday Akapson, said he was not happy that his team lost the final, but they had an outstanding 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 Nigeria. 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 towards 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 the Egyptian team, Islam Tayea, congratulated his girls for the victory, adding that it was a well-deserved victory.
“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 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.
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.
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“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 tournament started last Saturday and ended on Thursday.
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