Nigeria U19 men volleyball team is currently ranked 14 accruing 42 points according to Federation Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB).
The ranking is coming on the heels of the 2019 FIVB 19 Boy’s championship held in Tunisia last September.
The U19 boys finished high at the World Championship beating heavyweight USA, Czech, South Korea and Dominican to finish 14th position.
The Nigeria U19 team, however, remain second in Africa behind the silver medal winner, Egypt who are currently ranked 4th in the world.
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Meanwhile, Nigeria U20 women’s team moves one place up to occupy 19th position with 18 points as well as Chinese Taipei and Chile.
Nigeria, Peru and Germany are currently ranked 25th position with 14 points in the Men’s U21 FIVB world rankings.
The senior women and men national teams are currently ranked 85th and 93rd position respectively after the 2019 African Games in Morocco.
The President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod expressed delight over the rankings of the age grade teams.
He said the future of volleyball is bright adding that Nigeria can boast of players who can take over from graduate from the ranks without the fears of replacement.
Nimrod said, “One of the reasons why I ran for the office of the President, Nigeria Volleyball Federation was to groom players from the grassroots to limelight. For the first time in history, the nation’s U19 Boy’s team is ranked 14th position and this means a lot to me.
“The boys shocked the world at the 2018 African Youth Games in Algeria where they lifted the trophy. They also participated at the FIVB 19 Boy’s championship held in Tunisia where they placed 14th position out of 21 teams”.
He further said, “We should not also forget in a hurry that the nation’s U20 women’s team finished 4th position at the 2018 African Championship held in Kenya and now they are 19th in the world. I am the happiest man in the world right now and with these rankings, it means that the future of volleyball is bright”.
Nimrod revealed that most of the younger players are scattered across club sides in the country.
He said, “If you look at the volleyball clubs in the country, you will see that most of the U19, U20 and U23 players are scattered across clubs in the Division one and Premier League and one exceptional player, Arinze Nwachukwu is currently playing is trade with Fernabache of Turkey.
“Before the end of my tenure, I know Nigeria will better her rankings in the respective categories because volleyball has come to stay”, he added
