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 TUN/TUNISIA
Tunisia is one of the leading
nations in African Volleyball. The North African
nation has attained the greatest number of
Volleyball titles in all age categories in the
continent. The national men’s senior team has won
most of the titles,most notably the 2003 African
Nations Championship in Cairo, which gave the team
the honour to be the African representative at the
2003 World Cup. However, things did not go exactly
as planned for Tunisia in Japan as they failed to
get their game together before bowing out of the
competition in 11th place, just one spot higher than
bottom side Egypt.
Volleyball is becoming more and more popular in
Tunisia to the extent that it now competes with
football for the position of the nation’s favourite
sport. This has been largely due to the excellent
developmental programmes prepared by the Tunisian
Volleyball Federation over the past two decades. The
Federation originally opened the door for
professional players from Africa and Europe to play
in local competitions without limitations in order
to enhance the skills and experience of local
players. Since then foreign players have been
limited to only two per team to give local players
more of a chance of competing.
Strict rules were also put in place by the Tunisian
Federation for local clubs in order to promote
Volleyball and the country is now reaping the
dividends. The admirable performances of the
Tunisian players in international championships has
seen many talented players, including the likes of
Noureddine Hfaiedh and Ghazi Guidara, go abroad to
big European and Arabian clubs and play as
professionals.
They are undoubtedly Africa’s most celebrated
country in Volleyball as this will be their fifth
Olympic Games participation (best place was ninth in
1972), although they were absent from the Sydney
Olympic tournament.
Having won eight titles out of 14 African
Championships, Tunisia is looking forward to making
a noteworthy presence at the nets of the Peace and
Friendship Stadium. |
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Scorers