2006 Women's World Championships - Egypt

Sensational win seals Egyptian ticket to final round in Japan

Cairo, Egypt, March 19, 2005 – Egypt became the first team to clinch a spot in the 2006 Women’s World Championship final round, joining Japan and Italy who have already automatically qualified as hosts and defending champions respectively, after winning the 2006 Women’s World Championship first round tournament (Africa Pool A) in Cairo, Egypt on Saturday.
Pic: Egypt celebrate after confirming a spot in the 2006 Women’s World Championship final round in Japan

Egypt’s straight sets victory over Nigeria (25-15, 25-14, 25-14) on the final day, completed a clean sweep of all of their three matches.

“We gained this victory in the name of the Egyptian first lady Mrs. Susan Mubarak,” Egypt coach Hesham Badrawy. “We promised we would claim a berth in the World Championship final round and we did it. All my players did their best in the match and were all stars.”

Nigeria coach Anthony Oghuma admitted Egypt, who are ranked 17th on the FIVB world rankings – eight places above Nigeria, were too good. “Egypt was the better side as they played with a full team, while my team had a shortage of two players who weren’t available,” he said. “Tahani Toson and the setter Yosra Abdelkarim were sensational for Egypt.”

Watched by important guests such as Dr. Aly Elsaadany, the president of the sports section in the Ministry of Sports and CAVB President Dr. Amr Elwani, the match confirmed Egypt’s pre-tournament favouritism and they made light work of any hopes Nigeria had of pulling off an upset.

Egypt used the artistry of their stars Toson, Sherihan Sameh and Abdelkarim to pull off the victory, which confirms their place in their second successive World Championships, having already qualified in the last edition in Germany, 2002.

Meanwhile, South Africa finished third after collecting their first victory of the tournament (25-15, 25-19, 25-7) over winless Botswana.

The next tournament on the 2006 Women’s World Championship calendar sees Dutch Antilles host Jamaica, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands in a Norceca first round tournament from April 15-17, with the winner advancing to the second round.

The next Men’s World Championship event starts on Thursday with hosts Egypt playing off for a spot in the final round with Cameroon, Dem Rep of Congo and Sudan in a 2006 Men’s World Championship second round tournament (Africa Pool D) in Cairo.