Olympic Games - 2012 London (qualification process)

Cameroon gather pace with five-set thriller win over Algeria


Algeria's Youcef Zerrouki spikea against Cameroon in their thrilling encounter at the African Olympic Qualification tournament

Yaoundé, Cameroon, January 18, 2012- Hosts Cameroon electrified the home crowd with a marathon five-set (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-27, 20-18 ) comeback win over Algeria on the second day of the African Olympic Qualification tournament at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Wednesday.

Elsewhere Egypt rebounded after losing their opening match to Tunisia with a straight sets win (25-21, 25-18, 25-17) against Ghana.

Cameroon top the round robin tournament after the second day with a win-loss ratio of 2-0 while Egypt improved their record to 1-1 to sit second. Tunisia (1-0) are third, while Ghana (0-2) are fourth ahead of Algeria 0-1 who prop up the table.

The competition sees five teams competing for a slot to the London 2012 Olympic Games with the winner determined on January 21.

Cameroon v Algeria 3-2 (26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-27, 20-18)
Cameroon’s Jean Ndaki played a central role in his team’s victory over a struggling Algeria in a record of 147 minute match full of thrills. The Japan-based star impressed the 2,600 audience with his sharp spikes and fantastic performance scoring 26 points to lead Cameroon while Youcef Zerrouki led the match scorers with 29.

Egypt v Ghana 3-0 (25-21, 25-8, 25-17)
Reigning African champions Egypt bounced back from a first-day loss to Tunisia with a straight-sets (25-21, 25-8, 25-17) win over Ghana in 63 minutes but the performance was far from convincing. Egypt coach Sherif El Shemerly intended to rest some of his key players, most notably Ahmed Salah Abdelhay. The middle blocker Mohamed Ketat was Egypt’s best scorer with just nine points, while Jordan Agbavenue led Ghana also with nine.

The third day of action will see Egypt and Algeria face off in another North African derby. Tunisia take on Ghana seeking their second victory in row.

Match Schedule and results
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : TUN v EGY 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 29-27, 25-23)
- 1800 h : CMR v GHA 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-12)
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012:
- 1600 h : GHA v EGY 0-3 (21-25, 8-25, 17-25)
- 1800 h : ALG v CMR 2-3 (24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 27-25, 18-20)
Thursday, January 19th, 2012:
- 1600 h : EGY v ALG
- 1800 h : TUN v GHA
Friday, January 20th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : ALG v TUN
- 1800 h : CMR v EGY
Saturday, January 21st, 2012 :
- 1400 h : GHA v ALG
- 1800 h : TUN v CMR
Results
No Date Teams Set Result per set (points) Total
Points Time Audience
1 2 3 4 5
1 17-Jan CMR-GHA 3-0 25-18 25-16 25-12 75-46 1:10 3,500
2 17-Jan EGY-TUN 1-3 23-25 25-16 27-29 23-25 98-95 1:51 2,000
3 18-Jan GHA-EGY 0-3 21-25 8-25 17-25 46-75 1:03 1,000
4 18-Jan ALG-CMR 2-3 24-26 25-19 22-25 27-25 18-20 116-115 2:27 2,600

Standings
Rk Code Country Points Matches Points Sets
Won Lost Won Lost Ratio Won Lost Ratio
1 CMR Cameroon 4 2 190 162 1.173 6 2 3.000
2 EGY Egypt 3 1 1 173 141 1.227 4 3 1.333
3 TUN Tunisia 2 1 95 98 0.969 3 1 3.000
4 GHA Ghana 2 2 92 150 0.613 6
5 ALG Algeria 1 1 116 115 1.009 2 3 0.667

► Egypt/Algeria - 3/0 -25/21-25/19-26/24
►Tunisia/Ghana :3/0- 25/22-25/13-25/21

Ranking:
1/ Egypt 5 points (3 matches)
2/ Cameroon 4 pts (2)
-/ Tunisia 4 pts (2)
4/ Ghana 3 pts (3)
5/ Algeria 2 pts (2)

Egypt see of Algeria to keep slim Olympic hopes alive


Egypt's Mohamed Badawy spikes against an Algerian block on the third day of the African Olympic Qualifier in Cameroon

Yaoundé, Cameroon, January 19, 2012 - Egypt sealed a hard-fought straight sets (25-21, 25-19, 26-24) win over a valiant Algerian team on the third day of the Men’s African Olympic Qualification tournament in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Thursday to keep their dreams of a second consecutive Olympic ticket alive.

Tunisia also continued their winning ways with victory over winless Ghana 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21).

Egypt top the round robin tournament after the third day with a win-loss ratio of 2-1 but with one more match than Cameroon and Tunisia who are both second with a 2-0 record. Ghana are third (0-3) ahead of Algeria (0-2) at the bottom of the pack.

The competition sees five teams competing for a slot to the 2012 Olympic Games with the winner moving on to London.

Egypt v Algeria 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 26-24)
Egypt saw off a battling Algeria 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 26-24) in their third match, the second victory for the reigning African champions after losing their opener against arch rivals Tunisia

Outside hitter Ahmed Abdelhay and wing spiker Mohamed Badawy were central to the victory with 13 points apiece, while Mahdi Hachemi was Algeria’s top scorer with 12.

The Algerians looked tired after their brave performance against Cameroon on Thursday and the side are now out of the race for a place at the Olympic Games.

Egypt took an early lead in the first set which they kept to clinch the set. Algeria sprinted ahead in the second but were eventually pegged back by their Egyptian rivals before they were eventually put to the sword in the third, crashing out of contention for a ticket to London.

"Algeria played a great match. My opinion is that Algeria is a good team. Our players were well prepared for this competition through other competitions in which we participated specially the World Cup and All Arab Games," Egypt coach Sherif El Shemerly said.

"The formula with five championship team is very restrictive as it only requires a defeat to review its calculations," Algerian coach Kamel Imeloul lamented. "We lost our two games. Coming here, we had very good intentions. The competition was a different story.”

Tunisia v Ghana 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21)
Tunisia needed little effort to dispatch of the less experienced Ghana 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21) in 59 minutes to improve their record to 2-0.

Tunisia's promising star Elyes Karamosly was the top scorer with 17 points whereas Seido Ajanko led Ghana with 14.

Ghana stayed in touch early on in the match before Tunisia raced ahead to take the first set. Ghana’s performance faltered in the second as they easily succumbed the Tunisians. A late rally failed to materialize in the third as the North African side strolled off with the win.

The fourth day of action will see hosts Cameroon meet Egypt aiming for revenge following defeat in last year’s African Nations Championship, while Algeria plays Tunisia in another North African derby.

Match Schedule and results
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : TUN v EGY 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 29-27, 25-23)
- 1800 h : CMR v GHA 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-12)
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012:
- 1600 h : GHA v EGY 0-3 (21-25, 8-25, 17-25)
- 1800 h : ALG v CMR 2-3 (24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 27-25, 18-20)
Thursday, January 19th, 2012:
- 1600 h : EGY v ALG 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 26-24)
- 1800 h : TUN v GHA 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21)
Friday, January 20th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : ALG v TUN
- 1800 h : CMR v EGY
Saturday, January 21st, 2012 :
- 1400 h : GHA v ALG

Lot for the Olympic qualification tournament in Sofia, in May

Pool A

Bulgaria
Serbia
Spain
Slovenia

Pool B

Germany
Italy
Finland
Slovakia

Italy was lucky XD No Serbia and not Bulgaria in the pool

Quote from Loca inside

Italy was lucky XD

And with 3 wayward Teams.

Pool B is open for the second spot. Finland, Germany and even Slovakia are in the same level. Some nice matches will be played there. I think Finland will become second.

I can't wait for this tournament!

Quote from volley super fan

Lot for the Olympic qualification tournament in Sofia, in May

Pool A

Bulgaria
Serbia
Spain
Slovenia

Pool B

Germany
Italy
Finland
Slovakia

Display More

Nothing more to say except: go, Bulgaria, GO!

Quote from Loca inside

Italy was lucky XD No Serbia and not Bulgaria in the pool

I don't know if I was so enthusiastic having Finns in the pool They are making nice progress and they have a real terminator Mikko. Germany and Slovakia also proved that they can't be underestimated.

Doesn't matter that our and your guys almost kill each other on WC, I still want to see them in London, I like some of the players too much to not see them

►Tunisia/Algeria: 3/0 (25/17-25/16-25/21)
►Cameroon/Egypt: 2/3 (25/27-25/23 - 25/23 - 20/25 - 7/15)

21-01-2012:
Algeria vs Ghana
Cameroon vs Tunisia

Quote from bella

I can't wait for this tournament!
Nothing more to say except: go, Bulgaria, GO!

Quote from bella

I don't know if I was so enthusiastic having Finns in the pool They are making nice progress and they have a real terminator Mikko. Germany and Slovakia also proved that they can't be underestimated.

Yep, battle for the second place in pool B will be very interesting and Finland have pretty good chance for it.

Here is a photo gallery from the event: http://volleyball.sportal.bg/g…?galery=4698&category=5#0

I watched it live on TV and what to say?
There was a little gaffe by our Minister of Sport Svilen Neykov, who in his speach got a little bit confused and said that the lot would be for the World League (instead of the Qualification tournamen)
There was a very short video presentation for each of the participating teams in the tournament and the one for Italy absolutely "delighted" me . When saying the most important figures in the team they started with Travica ( Yes! ) and even didn't mention Lasko! , who as we all know was quite important for Italy last year, he had a main role in the team and I suppose that this year it won't be much more different, so really strange that they forgot about him, they forgot about Zaytsev, too... At least they mentioed "the universal" Savani, well on last place, but at least they mentioned him!

After the draw:
Rado Stoychev says that Italy is the main opponent, though not understimating the others.
The Engineer claims to be pleased with the draw, too.
Vlado Grbic says that everything could happen in the tournament and expects surprises.

That's in brief

Quote from volley super fan

There was a very short video presentation for each of the participating teams in the tournament and the one for Italy absolutely "delighted" me . When saying the most important figures in the team they started with Travica ( Yes! ) and even didn't mention Lasko! , who as we all know was quite important for Italy last year, he had a main role in the team and I suppose that this year it won't be much more different, so really strange that they forgot about him, they forgot about Zaytsev, too... At least they mentioed "the universal" Savani, well on last place, but at least they mentioned him!

Travica... Oh, crap! and maybe they put Petkovic into list of the most important figures of Serbian team also? I would agree with that important figure in every team is a setter, generally, but if it comes to Drago or Petko... uhm

Can the FIVB please pay the CAVB's internet bill?
People want to see information on your sport in developing nations and you can't even keep the website up.

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

5:25 PST, 1/20/2012

Quote from volley super fan

There was a very short video presentation for each of the participating teams in the tournament and the one for Italy absolutely "delighted" me . When saying the most important figures in the team they started with Travica ( Yes! ) and even didn't mention Lasko! , who as we all know was quite important for Italy last year, he had a main role in the team and I suppose that this year it won't be much more different, so really strange that they forgot about him, they forgot about Zaytsev, too... At least they mentioed "the universal" Savani, well on last place, but at least they mentioned him!

And in the brief clip about Germany they mentioned as the best players Kromm, Bohme, Huebner, in the last place Shoepps and they forgot to add Grozer. And when summing up the Slovenian team they said: "Players like Urnaut or Gasparini aren't very popular for the volleyball world but the team can make some surprises".
Also every clip of a team was made by some match of this team against Bulgaria. Because some of the teams, like Finland, played their last game against us in 2007 - the clip was compiled of the Finnish NT in 2007. Only Serbia and Italy's clips were compiled of the match Serbia - Italy in WC 2011. The same match for both of the clips. Slovenia's clip was the most bizarre, because we haven't played against them in a non-friendly match for ages and the clip was like from youtube, in 240 pixels.

Egypt electrify Cameroon in front of a full house in African Olympic qualifier


Egypt's blockers were the main power to defeat Cameroon in front of 4600 spectators at the African Olympic Qualifier

Yaoundé, Cameroon, January 20, 2012- Egypt men’s volleyball team continued their victories after losing the opening match to keep their Olympic dream alive as they trounced the struggling lions of Cameroon after a tough fought 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-7) in their last match of the 2012 Men’s African Qualification tournament held at the Multipurpose Sports Complex in Yaoundé, Cameroon on Friday one day before the end of the Olympic ticket decider.

Tunisia maintained their momentum to set their third victory in a row against Algeria 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21) to stay as heavy favourites for the Olympic berth.

Egypt top the round robin tournament after the fourth day finishing their matches with a win- loss ratio of 3-1. Tunisia came second with 3-0 record ahead of Cameroon which come third (2-1). Both Algeria and Ghana are winless with 0-3 coming at the bottom of the table.

Now Tunisia become the highest favourite for the Olympic berth and can achieve that if they take over the host Cameroon on the last day of the 5 nation tournament on Saturday. If Cameroon won their last match the three teams Egypt, Cameroon and Tunisia will be level and the point ratio in such case will determine the African representative in London 2012.

Egypt beat Cameroon 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-7)

In front of 4600 excited spectators Egypt electrified the home crowd with a thrilling 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-7) over the hosts Cameroon in 117 minutes. Egypt big gum Ahmed Salah Abdelhay regained the World Cup performance by which he was chosen the best spiker in Japan 2011 as he sent his unstoppable hits that wasn’t tolerated by Cameroon team and scored 28 points to finish as Egypt’s scorer, while the match featured another superb performance form Cameroon Outside hitter Jean Ndaki who was the match scorer with impressive 35 points.

Tunisia beat Algeria 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21)

Tunisia continued their winning streak as they crush the winless Algeria 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21) in a one side game decided in 61 minutes. The Algerian players were depressed to lose their first and second matches to give the full chance to Tunisia to control the match and achieve an easy victory. Tunisian opposite spiker Marouen Garci and the wing spiker Elyes Karamosli scored each 10 points to top their team’s scorers. Ali Kerboua top Algerian scorers with 10 points.

Match Schedule and results

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : TUN v EGY 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 29-27, 25-23)
- 1800 h : CMR v GHA 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-12)
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012:
- 1600 h : GHA v EGY 0-3 (21-25, 8-25, 17-25)
- 1800 h : ALG v CMR 2-3 (24-26, 25-19, 22-25, 27-25, 18-20)
Thursday, January 19th, 2012:
- 1600 h : EGY v ALG 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 26-24)
- 1800 h : TUN v GHA 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-21)
Friday, January 20th, 2012 :
- 1600 h : TUN v ALG 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21
- 1800 h : EGY v CMR 3-2 (27-25, 23-25, 23-25, 25-20, 15-7)
Saturday, January 21st, 2012 :
- 1400 h : GHA v ALG
- 1800 h : TUN v CMR

In the african tournament: point ratio or set ratio, which one comes first? Even if Cameroon beats Tunisia, Egypt loses in any set scenario... how does the situation look in point ratio for them?

Oh, it's point ratio, sorry, didn't read.

Quote from LDvolley

Oh, it's point ratio, sorry, didn't read.

COQT as well as WOQT follows the previous "2-1" rank-point system, including OG 2012. therefore, points ratio will prevail over set ratio when rank points are equal between 2 teams.

Only FIVB tournaments apply to the new "3-2-1-0" rank system...

Tunisia 3 - Cameroon 1

Tunisia is in OG.

Cameroon 1-3 Tunisia (25-21 / 20-25 / 23-25 / 21-25)

I guess we didn't see this one coming.. Congrats on Tunisia!