President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Musa Nimrod, has commended the Nigeria Women U-17 team following their victory over Cameroon at the ongoing 2023 girl’s U-17 African Nations Volleyball Championship in Abuja.
Nigeria defeated Cameroon 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-13, 25-22) in their second match of the championship in a match played at the indoor sports hall of Moshood Abiola National Stadium (Package B) on Monday.
The victory was Nigeria’s first-ever win since hosting an age-grade girls’ tournament in Abuja in 2021.
Despite a strong first set on Saturday, Sunday Akapson’s girls lost to Egypt 3-0 (24-26, 18-25, 15-25) in the opening match of the championship.
They, however, put up a better display on Monday to progress to the semi-finals of the competition where they will be facing the same opponents they defeated.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final game against their West African rivals, Nimrod commended the team mentality and their qualification to the world championship.
“The team was unfortunate to lose to Egypt on Saturday but they corrected their errors and were fantastic against Cameroon and the result is there to see,” he said.
“This is a new team and quite a lot of them will be travelling out of Nigeria for professional volleyball and I am sure of that.
“The team will plan very well ahead of Wednesday’s game against Cameroon and it is going to be an intense battle because both teams want to win to get to the final. I want to commend the team because already we have qualified for the U-17 world championship and the most important thing now is the rankings and I am confident that the girls will win.”
The federation boss also called on fans to come out in large numbers and support the team.
He added, “I want to urge everyone here in Abuja to come out and support the team because the Cameroonians a are very tough side with tall players but with the fans cheering them on I believe they can go through to the final.”
