2006 Men's World Championships - Egypt

Egypt join Japan & Brazil in final round

Alexandria, Egypt, March 26, 2005 – Outstanding scenes of jubilation hit Cairo on Saturday as the Egyptian men’s team followed in the footsteps of their women’s side by becoming the first team to book a spot in the final round of the 2006 Men’s World Championship - joining automatic qualifiers Japan and Brazil, who are the hosts and defending champions respectively – after winning the 2006 Men’s World Championship second round tournament (Africa Pool D).

Egypt beat winless Sudan 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-9) in the final match of the tournament for their third victory in as many matches, much to the joy of the local fans who had witnessed their national women’s team also book a final round spot in the 2006 Women’s World Championship the weekend earlier. It is the second time Egypt has completed this double following the 2002 World Championships where the men’s and women’s teams reached the final rounds in Argentina and Germany respectively.
Pic: Sudan (white) complete a successful block against Egypt
The other match on the final day of the tournament saw Cameroon secure second place with their second victory, a come-from-behind 3-1 (17-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-17) victory over RD Congo.

“I tried to give all my players the chance to prove themselves in the team and I think we succeeded to build up a new young team, which is promising for our future,” Egyptian coach Veselin Vukovic said. “The match was easy in relation to the technical difference but difficult because it's not easy to manage a team going into a match of which the result seems relatively finalised.”

“Now I'm thinking of the competitions that lay ahead, especially the African Nations Championship this summer, so we can build on this result.”

“We had many problems before the competition because we started only three months ago replacing the old players with a new team,” Sudan coach Alexander Karikov said. “It was not easy for us to improve quickly but I will continue working until we reach our goals.”

Egypt’s confirmation in the men’s final round leaves 21 places now available, which are divided across the five continents: Africa 1, Norceca 4, Asia 5, South America 2 and Europe 9.

The next tournament to feature in the 2006 Men’s World Championships is a first round event (Africa Pool B) in Durban, South Africa from April 8-10, 2005 featuring the hosts, Botswana and Mauritius where the winner will advance to the second round.

The next tournament in the 2006 Women’s World Championships is a first round tournament (Norceca Pool A) where the Dutch Antilles, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands will play off in Jamaica from April 15-17, 2005 for the chance to advance to the second round.