Seychelles, Mauritius qualify for second phase |26 July 2013

The first matches are slated for this afternoon at the Palais des Sports. The women’s game is at 5pm followed by the men’s at 7pm.

Confederation of African Volleyball (CABV) technical official, Mauritian Kaysee Teeroovengadum told Sports Nation yesterday that although Seychelles and Mauritius have already qualified for the second stage of the zone seven qualifiers as the other countries declined to take part, they had to play at least one match.

But the Seychelles Volleyball Federation (SVF) decided to have three matches instead to give local volleyball fans the opportunity to see our teams in action.

The last time the Seychelles women’s and men’s teams played in front of their public was at the 8th Indian Ocean Island Games in 2011 on home soil when they won the gold medals against Reuinionnais opponents.

 The second set of matches will be played tomorrow at 4pm and 6pm followed by Sunday at the same times.
The second stage of the qualifiers will be held in Mauritius, but the dates and playing format are yet to be revealed by the CAVB.

The winners of the second stage of the zone seven qualifiers will join 11 other teams from Africa – one from zone 1 and two from zones 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 – where they will be drawn into two pools of six. The two pool winners will represent Africa at the women’s World Championships which will be contested by 24 teams.

 Hosts Italy have already qualified, while defending champions Russia, who will looking for a third consecutive triumph, will also take part in the qualifiers.

The distribution by confederation for the 2014 FIVB women's world championships is as follows: Asia (four places), Africa (two places), Europe (nine places + Italy qualified automatically as host nation for a total of 10 places), South America (two places) and North, Central America and Caribbean (six places).

The FIVB women's World Championship is held every four years and the last tourney was hosted by Japan in 2010. Russia won their second straight title by Olympic champions Brazil 3-2 (21-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14, 15-11) in a five-set marathon to win the gold medal in front of a full house of 12,000 fans at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo.

Like the Seychelles women’s team, the men’s have to beat Mauritius in stage two of the zone seven qualifiers to progress to the third round where they will join the other 11 African teams from zone 1 and two from zones 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Following a draw, the 12 teams will play in three groups of four and the three group winners will make it to word championships in Poland in 2014.

The distribution by confederation for the 2014 FIVB men's world championships is as follows: Asia (four places), Africa (three places), Europe (eight places + Poland qualified automatically as host nation for a total of nine places), South America (three places) and North, Central America and Caribbean (five places). The country’s men’s team are coached by James Camille and his assistant is François Ally, while Nichol Lesperance is the women’s team head coach and Marie-Ange Bouchereau his assistant.

G. G.