ACTUALITE |
02.11.2006
World Volleyball Champ: Shaky Start for Lionesses
The national female volleyball team yesterday bowed 0-3 to Holland in their first outing at the tournament in Japan.
Cameroon got up to a poor start in the women’s volleyball world championship in Japan which stared yesterday. The Indomitable Lionesses, despite their determination to qualify for the second round, were humbled by the Dutch side three sets to zero; 25-16, 25-17, 25-17.
The tournament which is in its 15th edition, is organised by the International Volleyball Federation, FIVB, and brings together 24 teams from all over the world. The reigning world champions, Italy, will be looking to defend the title they won in Germany in 2002. However, they will be facing a stiff resistance from countries like Brazil, winner of the Grand Champions Cup in Japan and the World Grand Prix title in Reggio Calabria for the third consecutive time in September this year. Other favourites include China, Russia and Cuba.
Newcomers to the tournament are Cameroon, who qualified after winning the qualification tournament in Mauritius in 2005, are in pool C, alongside Porto Rico, Kazakhstan, the United States of America and reigning world vice champions, Brazil.
Commenting on Cameroon’s chances in the tournament, the president of the Cameroon Volleyball Federation, Louis Majore Timba said four of the six teams in his pool will qualify for the second round. "This means that if Cameroon wins two of the five matches, we will qualify for the second round. We have our chances against Kazakhstan and Porto Rico. We will do everything to qualify for the second round", he said.
The Indomitable Lionesses of volleyball have had two months of training abroad prior to the competition. The team left Cameroon on August 13 for Germany where they stayed for one week, then moved on to France and China. The team comprises seven professionals and five home-based players. The preparations haven’t been without hurdles as some of the players initially short listed, disappeared once in Europe and the squad was fined by the International Volleyball Federation for not submitting a sample of the jersey to be used in the tournament in time. There were also problems of the payment of bonuses to players. Despite these short comings, the federation president said the moral of the girls remains high.
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Hits: 1 | Source:cameroon-tribune.cm | |
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