The Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVF) on Friday said the country’s male and female volleyball teams had qualified for the 13th edition of the Ghana 2024 African Games.
The Technical Director of the federation, Martin Melandi, said this in an interview at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State. He said the automatic qualification was due to the failure of Benin Republic to honour its match engagements.
Melandi said the inability of Benin Republic to fund travel expenses of its teams was given as reason for not honouring the engagements.
“This is Zone three for West Africa. We were supposed to play against Benin Republic, we got their assurance but they withdrew at last minute,” Melandi explained.
“Ali Yaro, Zonal President of West Africa, has written to the Confederation of African Volleyball that Nigeria’s volleyball teams have qualified automatically.”
“So, we had to organise exhibition matches for them with some selected Lagos players. This is their first game since they entered camp, I’m optimistic that with subsequent friendlies they will perform well,” he said.
The men’s team, led by Moses Gana, defeated Lagos State selected volleyball team 3-0 in a best of three games 30-28, 25-21, 25-22. Gana said that he was certain subsequent matches would be tough for the team’s opponents.
The women’s team defeated Lagos State’s selected players 3-0, 25-9, 25-10 and 25-12.
The captain of the women’s team, Ijeoma Ukpabi, said she was optimistic that the team would do the country proud at the games.
“We’re training hard. This is the first time we’re having a blend of the young and old in the team, so the girls are pumped up and ready,” Ukpabi said.
“We have a great bond, we’ve played together in several tournaments. So, we understand one another on the court, we just have few new players and they are blending in well.”
The 2024 Ghana Africa Games is scheduled to hold from March 8th – 23rd. This is the second time in history that the games will be decentralised, as three cities in one country will host the event.
The three cities chosen for these functions are Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast.
