Lausanne, Switzerland, October 22, 2017 – Egypt laid down an early marker at the Italy-Bulgaria 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship CAVB African Qualifier when they defeated Niger in straight sets on Sunday.
The tournament doubles as the African Men’s Championship and Egypt are the defending champions. They are also hosting the tournament at the Cairo Stadium Complex from October 22 to 29 where three spots at the World Championship are on offer.
At the Poland 2014 World Championship Egypt were one of three CAVB qualifiers along with Cameroon and Tunisia and they didn’t hold back in their opening match which finished 3-0 (25-10, 25-6, 25-12).
Egypt coach Marcos Miranda was also able to welcome setter Abdalla Abdelsalam back from injury and his experience was vital to the victory, along with that of Ahmed Salah and Mohamed Adel.
Tunisia also made a winning start, but had to fight back from 2-1 down to see off Libya. After a slow start their block defence improved and they came back to win 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 20-25, 25-15, 15-7).
There were also straight-set wins for Ghana, Algeria and Rwanda.
Ghana defeated Kenya 3-0 (25-16, 26-24, 25-15), Algeria beat Botswana 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-17) and Rwanda overcame Chad with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-15) victory.