Tunisia coach Fathy Mekaouar dreams of a ninth title in the Men's Junior African Nations Championship

Tunis, Tunisia, March 7, 2013 – Having already secured the four African tickets to the 2013 FIVB Men's Junior World Championship to be held in Turkey, the coaches of the semifinal teams are going all out to keep their team’s motivation level high. At 16:00 local time on Friday, March 8, Egypt will meet Rwanda in the first semifinal while host and defending champions, Tunisia, will face Morocco at 18:00. 

Tunisian coach Fathy Mekaouar is looking for his team to improve on their record of being the top African country in terms of number of trophies (8 titles).  "This team is well prepared since last year and now we are looking forward to clinching the trophy as the team did two years ago in Libya. I put my trust in Malek Chekir who I consider the best player in this competition. I consider that the four semifinal teams are the best, but we need the support of our spectators to win. Today we have to play well against our opponent Morocco because surprises can happen,” said Mekaouar.

Egypt's coach Gaber Abdel Aty is preparing his team for what will be a difficult match against Rwanda by analysing the opponent. "We are putting our confidence in Hussein Ali who was added to the team only few days before departure and also the setter Mohamed Adel. I'm happy with the performance in the first round but we need more in the semifinal,” said Aty.

Rwanda's coach Paul Bitok hopes to defeat Egypt and qualify for the final. If he does achieve this he will be the first coach Rwandan volleyball history to do so. As he said, "We have to work hard and I need my players to keep the same motivation like they did in the match against Algeria. I think the qualification to the final will need a lot of concentration against a strong team like Egypt,"

Morocco's coach Brahim Bouchdouk is keen to make his dreams to win the trophy a reality. "We need to continue our dreams and win the trophy for the second time after 2004. We have now a good team that can achieve a lot in future for the senior team.

Since the competition started in 1984, Tunisia has won eight titles followed by Egypt (3), Algeria (2)  and Morocco (1).  

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