South Africa men and women along with Angola and Mauritius through to final spot

 Maputo, Mozambique, September 13, 2011- South Africa teams were the stars of the party at the 2011 All Africa Games Beach volleyball tournament as they qualified for the final of both men and women categories after the semifinal matches held at Costa do Sol Arena in Maputo, Mozambique on Tuesday. The South African men were accompanied by Angola, while Mauritius women completed the final fixtures.

 South Africa meets Angola in the men’s final on Wednesday for the gold medal of the first ever beach volleyball competition at the Quadrennial event, while Ghana plays Nigeria for the bronze medal. Again the South African will be a part of the women party when they line up against Mauritius for the gold medal, while Kenya take on Nigeria for the bronze.

 The semifinal program started by the play off match between Ghana and Kenya from loser brackets as Ghana pulled off a valuable victory over the Kenyans 2-0 (24-22, 21-14) after a great fight from the pair of Ajamako Seidu/ Evans Tagoe against the more experienced Kenyan pairing of Patrick Owino/ Evans Bera.

 Nigeria pair Kayode Ajilore / Goodluck Anyasodnke fought for more than an hour to cruise past the vulnerable Algerian team of Badr Eddine/ Rachid Benhallal 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-11) in the other loser brackets match. The tight Nigerian blocking and defence was the key factor behind the victory.

 In the semifinal, South Africa hammered Ghana 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) in a tough match controlled by the South Africans through the strong spike service of Freedom Chiya and Grant Goldschmidt. Although Ghana’s double of Ajamako Seidu/ Evans Tagoe were the black horses of the competition, they couldn’t withstand against the experienced South African team. South Africa qualified to the final leaving Ghana to play for the bronze medal.

 The other semifinal showed a new symphony of spirit from the Angolan brothers Marcio and Eden Sequeira who trounced the physically fit Nigerian team 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) to complete the final fixture. Nigeria now play for the bronze medal against Ghana.

 In the women loser brackets match Kenya fought hardly against the hosts Mozambique and their excited spectators to win the longest of the third day matches 2-1 (22-20, 21-23, 16-14). The oldest competition players Margaret Indiaka/ Dorcas Ndasaba worked hard to overcome the physically fit Mozambique pair Satira Chowgo / Guilhermina Cossa.

 In the other match Nigeria pair Agera Preiolla/ Garba Mariam rebounded from a set behind to win a thrilling tiebreaker 2-1 (20-22, 21-8, 15-11) over the fighting Algerian pairing of Sonia Birkioune/ Meriem Boucheta. The Nigerian team was better in their backline defense and succeeded also to overwhelm the net action after they lost the first set.

 The first semifinal showed again the South African Palesa Sekhenyana/ Randy Williams defeating the Kenyan double who appeared in less performance after the effort they did against Mozambique. They won 2-0 (23-21, 21-19) but after the Kenyan team failed to settle the final points of each set.

 Mauritius experienced double of Natasha Rigobert/ Elosie Li Youklo played their utmost to stop the Nigerian ambitions to creep to the final after they won the crucial points of the tiebreak. Mauritius won 2-0 (21-16, 16-21, 15-12) after Natasha and Li expressed their team work after the draw 10-10 in the tiebreak.

Day 3 Results  

Men’s Tournament

1 GHA VS KEN 2-0 (24-22, 21-14)

2 NGR  VS ALG 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 15-11)

3 RSA VS GHA 2-0 (21-19, 21-18)

4 ANG VS NGR 2-0 (21-15, 21-19)

Women’s tournament

1 KEN VS MOZ 2-1 (22-20, 21-23, 16-14)

2 NGR VS ALG 2-1 (20-22, 21-8, 15-11)

3 RSA VS Kenya 2-0 (23-21, 21-19)

4 MRI VS NGR 2-0 (21-16, 16-21, 15-12)

Final Program on September 14

Men’s Finals

Gold Medal match : South Africa v Angola

Bronze Medal match : Ghana v Nigeria

Women’s Finals

Gold Medal match : South Africa v Mauritius

Bronze medal match : Kenya v Nigeria