NIGERIA QUALIFIES FOR WORLD VOLLEYBALL CHAMPS

The Nigerian junior women volleyball team would still be at the U-20 World championship in spite of the team's losses at the qualifiers, an official disclosed weekend in Abuja.

Ebenezer Morakinyo, First Vice-President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), said the team would be at the championship in spite of its failure at the African qualifiers. “This is because Africa needed to be represented by three countries at the world championship,'' he said.

The team lost its two matches at the 14th African Nations Junior Women Volleyball Championship which serves as the qualifiers for the 17th Women's Under-20 World Championship.

The team had lost 1-3 to Algeria in its first match on Wednesday and lost 0-3 to Egypt on Thursday in its final game at the qualifiers which ended on Friday.

The losses meant Nigeria finished last on the three-team table at the championship with Egypt and Algeria in the top two positions. The African championship had kicked off on Wednesday at the Indoor Sports Hall of Package B of the Abuja National Stadium with teams from Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt. The three countries were the only participants, instead of the seven teams expected to participate, with Tunisia, Kenya, Rwanda and Congo Democratic Republic as the absentees. “Nigeria will still be at the world championship in spite of the fact that we did not win any of our matches in the African championship, which is the qualifiers. 'This is because Africa must have three representatives at the world championship. The absence of the remaining four countries gave us the advantage of qualifying,'' Morakinyo who is a member of the Organising Committee of the Confederation of African Volleyball (CAVB) said.

The world championship is scheduled for June 21 to June 30 in Brno, the Czech Republic.