ACTUALITE |
12.09.2005
CAN Volleyball: Cameroon’s Dream Shattered
The female national volleyball team will play the fifth place play-off tomorrow.
The ongoing 15th edition of the African Volleyball Cup of Nations women’s’ competition is gradually moving to its end. So far, a total of 12 matches have been played with all teams fully engaged. Out of eight teams that began the race, only four have succeeded to move to the next phase of the competition. They are: Tunisia, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya. Luck has not been on the side of the Indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon this year as they have not been able to meet their prime objective which is to qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition.
Out of three matches played in the pool stage, Cameroon lost two. They however woke up from slumber last Saturday and beat Botswana 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-23) sets in their last pool match. The Botswanians were dominated by the Cameroonians who left nothing to chance. The South Africans put up a strong fight in the third set but the Cameroonians kept tormenting them with hard spikes that they found difficult to encounter. It took the Cameroonians 1h 05mins to beat inexperienced Botswana.
In the second pool B match, Cameroon crashed before host Nigeria, 0-3 sets. The Cameroonians, led by hard hitters such as Ambatta Carole, Mantbala Ambassa, Ngo Nkot Rebecca, etc, appeared poised to win but made some serious mistakes, especially in their back court defense. The attack was good but the major problem was with the reception. This gave an edge to their adversaries in the first two matches. According to Coach Yende Lavoisier, the Cameroon team is not complete and so there was no possibility of making any good replacements. Cameroon is playing with 11 out of twelve players. Professionals based in France such as Minsili Avebe Daniel, Tenchu Perone, who were expected to join the team, are absent. The two professionals that joined the team, Ombassa Sombang and Ngombi Ndolo Patricia, only arrived in Abuja on the first day of the competition.
In the other group matches played over the weekend, Nigeria beat Tunisia 3-2 sets; Kenya outplayed Cote d’Ivoire 3-0 sets, while Egypt whitewashed Morocco 3-0 sets. Semi-final matches will be played today. Nigeria will face cup holders, Egypt, while Kenya will play against Tunisia. Yesterday was official rest day for all teams. Competition will only resume today. Cameroon will fight for the fifth position tomorrow.
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Hits: 1 | Source:cameroon-tribune.cm | |
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