Nigeria female beach volleyball team beat Mauritius 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) to finish fifth place at the inaugural Africa Beach Games in Cape Verde. The Nigerians lost to Kenya in the Women’s elimination 1-8 by 2-0 (21-13, 21-15).
The head coach of the team, Francis Imoudu praised the duo of Isa Laju and Tochukwu Nnoruga for their resilience at the first ever Africa Beach Games.
He said the girls gave their best against Kenya in the build up to the Semifinals but lost due to reasons beyond him.
Imoudu said the standard of Beach Volleyball in Africa is improving drastically.
“Despite placing fifth at the beach volleyball at the inaugural Africa Beach Games, I must commend my players for giving their opponents good fights. All we have to do is make sure the players continue playing whether there is a championship or not.
“Few months ago, Nigeria hosted the Africa Beach Volleyball Cup Seniors in Abuja and we saw upset. This time around in Cape Verde, teams most people never thought could enter the finals did; this shows the game is improving in Africa”.
Reacting to the performance of the team, President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod told the players not to be discouraged but ensure they work on themselves.
Nimrod said the federation is committed to ensure beach volleyball including indoor/outdoor are taken to the nooks and cranny of the country.
He said, “The girls put up a wonderful show in Cape Verde and I am sure the volleyball family are excited. This is just the first edition and the federation is optimistic that Nigeria will excel at the next edition”.
