Volleyball: 2014 FIVB World Championship African qualifiers |08 October 2013

Tough wins as Seychelles teams go through to round three

It happened to be tougher than expected but the Seychelles women’s and men’s team are in the third round of the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) World Volleyball Championship African qualifiers.

On Sunday at the Pandit-Sahadeo gymnasium in Vacoas, Mauritius, the country’s teams were stretched to the limit in the five-setter games before winning 3-2 to be the zone 7 representatives in the next phase of the qualifiers.

Skippered by former Sportswoman of the Year Yvonne Leggaie, the women’s team traded sets with their Mauritian counterparts before winning 3-2 (25-19, 29-31, 19-25, 25-22, 15-11).
Speaking to the Mauritian press at the end of his team’s win, coach Nichol Lesperance said:

"We felt the absence of setter Nathalie Agnes, to whom we dedicate this win, and Marielle Bonne. But the other players battled hard although they were too confident after winning the first set. I'm optimistic for the rest of the qualifiers as we played on a par with Kenya in the Olympic Games qualifiers. I'm sure we will play better with our complete team."

As for the men’s team captained by former professional Ian Furneau, they trailed by two sets and stared defeat in the face.

When coach James Camille threw setter Jones Mangroo into the mix, he brought his experience to the game and Seychelles’ play improved as they staged a superb comeback to win the final three sets for a morale-boosting 105-minute 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-16,15-9) win.

“The introduction of setter Jones Vel at the start of the third set helped change the course of the game and we were able to up our tempo to get a win. But still I always believed in my team although I can say that the Mauritian team have improved since out last meetings. We now have to start preparing for the next round of qualifiers,” coach Camille told the Mauritian press.
It would have been a disgrace for Seychelles if the men’s national team had lost especially as some players threatened not to board the plane to Mauritius last Friday if they were not given a US $100 allowance which they should not be given as per National Sports Council policy.

The players were given the US $100 even though their trip is fully funded.

Such an attitude cannot be tolerated as there are no Seychellois professionals in the local leagues.

After the volleyballers have been given a US $100 per diem, one wonders if all other athletes will get the same treatment when they are called on to represent Seychelles in international competitions.

Back to the qualifiers, playing in the second round zonal phase, Seychelles and Mauritius were battling it out for the one vacancy to the third round.

They qualified for this round after the other nations from the region withdrew from the first round of qualifiers held here in July.
 
As the top teams would have qualified for the next round, Seychelles and Mauritius automatically qualified as they were the only two teams who took part. Both the women’s and men’s teams played three matches against their Mauritian counterparts and won all three.
 
The zonal phase of the African qualifiers features 26 men’s and 25 women’s teams divided into seven continental zones.

The champions of zones 1 and 7 along with the champions and runners-up of zones 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 automatically qualify to the third round (final phase) of the qualifiers making over 12 teams in each gender.

The 12 women’s teams will be drawn into two pools of six and the two pool winners will represent Africa at the women’s World Championships which will be contested by 24 teams in Italy.

The Seychelles men’s team will join 11 other teams – zone 1 winners as well as winners and runners-up of zones 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 – in the pool phase to vie for one of the three tickets to Poland for the men’s world champs.

G. G.