· Chad has reached the quarterfinals of both the 2023 African Nations Championship and the 2023 African Games
· Federation Tchadienne de Volley ball President General Idriss Dokony is confident that Chad will soon be among the top five volleyball nations in Africa
· Coach Assam Samir’s impact is demonstrated, as five Chad players turn professional
Following support from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme, the Chad volleyball team are looking to solidify their status as a top ranked team.
The FIVB has invested CHF 25,000 in coach support that has seen Assam Samir of Algeria brought in to take charge of the men’s national team for a combined period of four months.
After the team’s top ten finish at last year’s African Nations Championship, Chad has continued its renaissance at this year’s African Games where they also reached the quarterfinals.
With coach Samir in charge, the team finished third in Group A of the ongoing African Games in Accra, Ghana after a historic 3-2 win over Gambia. A 3-1 loss to defending champions Cameroon in the quarterfinals on Wednesday saw Chad drop out of contention for the title but the Federation Tchadienne de Volley ball (the Volleyball Federation of Chad) President General Idriss Dokony remains sure that volleyball in Chad is on the ascendancy.
He has declared his confidence that Chad will soon be among the top five volleyball nations in Africa thanks to support from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme.
“We are only four months into the project and we can see the results already. We are very happy with Coach Samir. He is done a good job putting together a young team within a very short time and they are already playing high level volleyball,” he said.
Action between Gambia and Chad at the 2023 African Nations Championship held in Cairo, Egypt.
“Getting a set from Cameroon is commendable and I believe we would have done much better if the boys had more time to train together. However, we are impressed with the progress and Chad is now a team to watch in Africa,” General Idriss added, himself a member of the FIVB Development Commission and the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) Vice President.
Coach Samir’s impact has seen six players land professional deals in Algeria, Libya and Cameroon. General Idriss believes this is also a sign of good things to come for the team.
The six include opposite Bankane Assan Paulin and middle blocker Ndoubahidi Martial who play for the Algerian club Castel Batna. Another opposite Ngaryar Moussa Djitayna is based at Libyan club Zliten. Setter Yanhyab Didier plays for Litto Club in Cameroon while outside hitter Weideg Lamay Parfait is signed by Cameroonian club Efoulan. Opposite Habib Rarissingar plays for a university team, also in Cameroon.
General Idriss further stated: “We have realised that for the national team to compete at a high level, you have to have many professional players within the set-up. The experience they get in foreign clubs comes in handy when playing for the national team.”
“It’s the first time this is happening in Chad and it shows that this project is a success. We want to maintain this team for some time, since the average age is 22/23 years, and gradually move up the FIVB rankings. So far we are number two in our Zone (CAVB Zone IV) behind Cameroon but the goal is to be top in our Zone and among the top five in Africa,” he added.
Chad is currently ranked eighth in Africa and 63rd in the world.