Press release

Cape Town, South Africa, September 23, 2010 – Tunisia picked up the gold medal at the 2010 Boys Youth African Nations Championship after finishing the round-robin tournament unbeaten in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday while Egypt secured silver and Morocco clinched bronze.

Morocco v Algeria
Morocco overcame their North African rivals 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-22) in the days opening match to secure third place.

In an opening set marred by far too many service faults it was the Moroccans who grabbed a 16-12 lead at the first technical time out.

While Soufiane Faraji was devastating as a blocker, Driss Bouhali was quick to seize the opportunity to pile on the points. Not to be outdone, the Algerians soldiered on to keep their hopes of registering their first win in the competition alive. However, it was the more organised Moroccan outfit that went on to take the first two sets.

Despite looking jaded at times after their bruising 3-2 encounter against Tunisia the previous day Morocco closed proceedings against the Algerians with a 25-22 margin.

South Africa v Egypt 3-0 (25-14; 25-19; 25-11)
A fiery start by the South Africans in their final round robin encounter against Egypt was soon extinguished by the latter as the visitors slowly contained the powerful attacking combination of Miles Thompson and Dean Layters to pick up a straight sets (25-14, 25-19, 25-11) win and with that, the silver medal.

Crucial blocking by Robin Wessels gave the South Africans some breathing space but when the Egyptians tightened their defense at the net through Mohamed Masoud and Mohamed Metawae it paid off immediately. The classy Egyptians stepped up a few gears and cruised to a 25-14 first set win that set the stage for their eventual victory.

In the second set the fired up home team narrowed the point’s difference to a slender 7-8 margin after having being down by 5-1. Middle blocker Robin Wessel’s huge blocking action helped the hosts pick up valuable points and contributions from skipper Layters and quick hitting from Thompson levelled matters at 12-12. The fans were rubbing their hands with glee when attacker Carlo van Nelson’s powerful spike down the line beat Mohamed Hassan, the Egyptian libero. Within seconds van Nelson connected with playmaker Marshallino Jullie’s quick set to the antennae and unleashed a ‘bullet’ that struck Mohamed Masoud. With the Egyptians being pushed to the ropes one would have expected the high riding South Africans to stretch their lead and take the set away from the North Africans. However the Egyptians shut the door firmly as they ran out victors with a 25-19 scoreline.

Efforts to get back into the game proved to a daunting task for the SA lads who were out gunned by a determined Egyptian team who hammered them 25-11.

The victory secured the Pharaohs the silver medal.

Day 5 Results
Morocco beat Algeria 3-0 (25-21; 25-23; 25-22)
Egypt beat South Africa 3-0 (25-14; 25-19; 25-11)
Final Ranking
1. TUNISIA
2. EGYPT
3. MOROCCO
4. SOUTH AFRICA
5. ALGERIA
Individual Awards
AWARD SHIRT NUMBER NAME COUNTRY
Best Setter 1 AMINE ZAYANI MOROCCO
Best Attacker 11 MALEK CHEKIR TUNISIA
Best Blocker 12 MOHAMED METAWAE EGYPT
Best Server 5 OUSAMA MRIKA TUNISIA
Best Receiver 3 DEAN LAYTERS SOUTH AFRICA
Best Libero 6 MOHAMED HASSAN EGYPT
Most Valuable Player 10 MARAWAN MOHAMED EGYPT