Rwanda women clinched their first ever gold medal at CAVB Junior Cup
Rwanda women captured the gold medal of the CAVB Junior Beach Volleyball Cup following their victory over the south African teams in the final matches held at Lome Beach in Togo capital on Sunday.
This was the first ever gold medal for the winners in the history of volleyball of the eastern African countries
Nigeria women clinched the bronze medal with wins against Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry respectively in the third place matches.
Early on Saturday the qualifiers to the FIVB Swatch Junior World Championship were revealed as Burundi, South Africa, host Togo, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana junior men teams book their tickets to Canada, while Rwanda, South Africa, Nigeria, Guinea Conakry, Ghana and Sierra Leone women made their way to the prestigious FIVB event after they finished also as top six teams.
Final: Rwanda beat South Africa 2-0
Rwanda surprised the audience with a highly organized performance in the final against the more favourite South Africa to clinch a valuable victory 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) to gain the first ever gold medal in the history of volleyball in their country. South Africa’s pairing of Liezle Petersen/ Brittiny Deelcarme started more trustable to lead 4-2 at the beginning, but quickly Rwanda rebounded with the proper reception and backline defense of both of the pair Denyse Mutatsimpundu/ Charlotte Nzayisenga. With the more motivation of the Rwandan double they were more concentrating in every ball as they used the reception mistakes of their opponent to win the set 21-15. South Africa started the second set as the better side as they regained their attacking power through the spikes of Deelcarme and the better reception of Petersen. Rwanda again showed a lot of fight for each ball in defense to save three set points before winning the set 23-21 and the match in straight sets.
Bronze medal Match: Nigeria beat Guinea Conakry 2-0
Nigeria’s pair Isabela Eyetsonetan/ Jummai Bitrus found it easy to cruise past Guinea’s Amie Kante/ Aissatou Kamano 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) through their good spikes by the net. They also used their service to penetrate regularly their opponent specially in the first set. Nigeria won the bronze medal while Guinea finished fourth.
5th position match: Ghana beat Sierra Leone 2-1 Ghana captured the fifth position after a thrilling encounter 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-9) but both teams secured their tickets to the World Champs. Although Sierra Leone’s Hawa Kargbo/ Josephine Sasay won the first set 21-18 and looked nearer to win, Ghana’s Ellen Blebo and Betrice Ampadu were more aggressive in the second set and then in the tiebreak to win the fifth position.
7th position match: Cote d'Ivoire beat Gabon 2-0 Cote d’Ivoire’s pair Mankan Sidibe/ Cany Koffi trounced Gabon’s Dorothee Abessolo/ Marva Badole 2-0 (21-12, 21-12) to pull off the seventh position.
Finals Results Women Final: Rwanda v South Africa 2-0 (21-15, 23-21) Bronze medal: Nigeria v Guinea Conakry 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) 5th place: Ghana v Sierra Leone 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-9) 7th place: Cote d’Ivoire v Gabon 2-0 (21-12, 21-12)
Final ranking
Women 1. Rwanda 2. South Africa 3. Nigeria 4. Guinea Conakry 5. Ghana 6. Sierra Leone 7. Cote d’Ivoire 8. Gabon 9. Zimbabwe
