Nigeria successfully defended their title from 2020 to win the U-19 Boys African Nations Volleyball Championship twice.
At the recently finished 2022 U-19 Boys African Nations Volleyball Championship in Morocco, Nigeria thrashed Egypt 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 31-29) on Sunday.
The first set began with the West Africans controlling the pace, leading Egypt by 8-3 points before the Egyptians closed the gap. The Eaglet then took control of the match, winning by a score of 25-20, and started the second set on a high note by defeating Egypt by a score of 25-18.
The final set was fiercely contested as the North African team battled hard to score points with the Nigerian squad. After a 25-25 stalemate, Nigeria went on to defeat the other team by a score of 31 to 29.
Adekalu Adeniyi, the head coach of the Nigeria U-19 Boys Team, commended the players’ unwavering efforts against Egypt in a post-victory interview.
He said, “Today is the happiest day of my life in 2022 because Nigeria retained the trophy won in 2020.
“The players played according to the game plan from the blast of the whistle and never complained whenever they lost points.
“The players have shown greatness from the first day of the championship and exhibited a high level of discipline during the course of play.
“I want to thank God Almighty for the opportunity given to me as the Head Coach to win the U19 African Nations Volleyball Championship again. For record purposes, I and Coach Sani Mohammed won the 2018 African Youth Games title, and emerged Champions of the 2020 U19 Boys African Nations Volleyball Championship held in Nigeria (as an assistant coach); now I am lifting the trophy as the Head Coach.
“I want to also appreciate the Nigeria Volleyball Federation led by Engineer Musa Nimrod for their tremendous support to the success of the team as well as every Nigerian”.
Despite their outstanding performance, the players, according to Adeniyi, still have a long way to go.
He expressed that: “All the players have special qualities in them and I strongly believe that they will become National Assets in the future.”
