2006 World Championships - Egypt
All eyes on Africa with first final round tickets on offer
 
Cairo, Egypt, March 11, 2005 – The international Volleyball family will focus all its attention on Egypt next week to see which two African teams will claim the first two men’s and women’s tickets on offer for a spot in the 2006 World Championships final round in Japan when first and second round tournaments take place in Cairo from March 17-26.

Starting on March 17, a three-day African women’s first round tournament begins while one week later, on March 24, an African men’s second round tournament starts with both tournament winners claiming the distinguished honour of being the first teams to advance through to the final round of the 2006 World Championships in Japan. As hosts, the Japanese men’s and women’s teams have automatically received a final round spot, along with the defending champions – the Brazilian men and Italian women’s teams. A total of 48 teams – 24 men and 24 women - will compete in the final round.

The two African tournaments, which has attracted unprecedented television coverage from the likes of Egyptian TV, Egyptian Satellite Channel and Nile sports channel, will confirm the first two teams to claim one of the five men’s and women’s final round vacancies on offer for Africa. Of the 44 final round vacancies (remembering the Japanese and Brazilian men’s teams and the Japanese and Italian women’s teams have automatically received a final round berth) they are divided up into the following: Africa - five, Asia - nine, Norceca - 10, South America - four and Europe - 16.

The Egyptian Volleyball Federation, under the presidency of Dr. Amr Elwani, who is also the CAVB president, has made a thorough preparation for the tournaments with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports Mr. Mamdouh Elbeltagy, who will be attending the opening ceremony.

Both tournaments will feature four teams each: - Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana in the women’s tournament while Egypt, Cameroon, RD Congo and Sudan face off in the men’s competition.