Nigeria welcomes Egypt, Cameroon, Tunisia, others as competition begins

The National Stadium, Abuja will come alive today when Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger Republic, Cameroon, Guinea, Rwanda, Botswana, Congo, Nigeria and defending champions, Egypt converge to vie for honours in the 17th African U-21 Men’s Volleyball Championship. The competition will end on September 20.

According to the Africa Volleyball Federation, the teams are expected to arrive in Abuja today, technical meeting holds tomorrow, while the competition will start on Wednesday and end September 19.

The body said the competing countries are expected to depart Abuja on September 20.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF) has named the 14 players chosen to represent the country in the championship.

According to the federation, the team was picked after its final training session at the Murtala Square camp of the team in Kaduna at the weekend.

The players are Patrick Davou, Bruno Tochukwu, Ibrahim Adamu, Sylvanus Zachariah, Nwachukwu Arinze and Moses Gana.

Others are Izuchukwu Nwachukwu, Mayowa Bello Afeez, Chidiebere Emmanuel Okeke, Chinedu Ekechi, Emmanuel Udaa, Emmanuel Briggs, Prince Anyasodike and Hillary Simon.

The national team is led by Elam Elishama (Head Coach), Denis Eleri (Assistant Coach) and Anthony Torbunde (Trainer).

According to NVBF’s Technical Director, Martin Melandi, “everyone that made the list is a star player. Even the players that did not make the team are equally good.

“We have been having sleepless nights to come up with the list.”

He disclosed that the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) has agreed to send its officials to inspect the venue and related facilities at the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium Abuja, which Nigeria presented as venue for the championship.