A number of teams are currently battling it out at the 2023 CAVB Men’s African Nations Championship, with Gambia making their debut in this year’s edition taking place in Cairo, Egypt.
Senegal, who last participated in this tournament in 1979, marked a return to the competition, alongside Chad and Libya.
Libya last featured in the 2017 edition held in Cairo, and Chad’s last appearance was in the 2019 tournament held in Tunisia.
Senegal were placed in Group D where they finished bottom, with one point from three matches. However, Coach Cheikh Sadibou said the tournament was a crucial learning opportunity for his team.
“It’s been a long time since we participated in this competition, and we are glad to be here. It has been a good opportunity for the boys to learn and gauge themselves against some of the best teams in the continent.
“We had some good rallies against some of the best teams which is really encouraging. We hope to grow from here and claim a place in African volleyball,” Sadibou told FIVB.com after their 3-0 loss to defending champions Tunisia in the Round of 16 on Friday.
Debutants Gambia were also drawn in Group D where they registered only one win against Senegal (3-2) to finish third and book Chad in Round of 16. Despite losing 3-1 to Chad on Friday, Coach Saikou Omar has drawn a lot of positives from this tournament.
“I’m proud of what the boys have achieved given this is our first time. I think I have the youngest team here because majority of my players are Under 20. There is a lot of potential in this team if you look at the performance we had against Morocco.
“We have noticed that we need to improve on our blocking and reception. We need to win classification matches to get a good ranking. I hope that next time we will get a chance to come here because this is the only way to improve,” said Omar.
Both Libya and Chad, who qualified for the quarterfinals, are supported by the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme which seeks to help national teams achieve their full potential. The FIVB has invested CHF 72,000 in 12 months of coach support in Libya and CHF 14,000 into coach support in Chad over two projects.
Libya claimed victory against Cameroon 3-1 on Wednesday to secure top spot in Group C, after also picking up six points against Kenya and Ghana. The North Africans automatically qualified for the quarterfinals after getting a bye in Round 16, since Group A only had three teams.
Libya coach Ghazi Koubaa was impressed by the strong performance of his team, which has seen the country move to 51st in the FIVB World Rankings.
“It’s our first major tournament after six years and I am grateful to the Libyan federation and FIVB for giving us this opportunity. I am happy with the level the boys have shown in this competition after a short time working together with them.
“They have done well to finish top of a tough group which makes it easier for us in the knockout stages. The win against Cameroon has lifted the morale and improved the mentality of the players and shown them they can go all the way to the final,” Koubaa stated.
Meanwhile, Chad finished second in Group C behind defending and record African champions Tunisia, after beating Mali and Tanzania in straight sets. Chad beat Gambia 3-1 on in Round of 16 on Friday.
Chad coach Assam Samir said he had seen rich potential in his team and is not surprised by their good performance so far in the tournament.
“We have worked very hard in the last two weeks preparing this team and I could see they have a lot of potential. The players have good physique and are willing to learn. They just need to get more exposure to the demands of high-level volleyball like video analysis and modern training methods.
“Our target is to finish in the top six this year and then go back to work on improving further. With good support, this team can be among the top four in Africa in two years,” said Samir.
Libya continued their winning streak to book themselves into the semi-final, with a 3-0 win over Chad in the quarter-final on Saturday but lost to Algeria in the semi-final 3-2 on Monday.
Egypt beat Cameroon 3-1 in another semi-final and will now face Algeria in the gold medal match tomorrow while Libya will play against Cameroon for the bronze.