Algeria becomes the first team from Africa to qualify for the Tokyo, Japan Volleyball Women’s World Cup from August 22 – September 6.
To achieve the feat, Algeria defeated Senegal 3-0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-22) in the semifinal of Women’s African Nations Championship in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday.This will be Algeria’s first appearance at the World Championship and their first since 2011.
Algeria also qualified for only their third African Volleyball Championship final, the first being in 2009 which they won with a 3-0 over Tunisia 2011 (25-21, 25-17, 25-15) to seal the round robin championship. Their last coming in 2011, Kenya defeated Algeria 3-1 (25-10, 17-25, 25–21, 25-13) the finals.
Senegal who were nicknamed the “Comeback Queens” of the championship suffered their first loss of the Championship. They had earlier in their pool come from two sets down to defeat Tunisia, Cameroon and Morocco.
Senegal will play for the bronze medal but will have to wait for the loser between Kenya and Cameroon to know their opponent.
Tunisia beat Mauritius 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-14) in playoff for classifications. Morocco picked their first victory against Botswana 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-12) in the classification game.
Now Morocco will play Tunisia for position fifth and sixth in what is a repeat of their pool tie, then it ended 3-1 (24–26, 25–17, 25–21, 25–13) in favour of Tunisia and Botswana will play Mauritius for positions seven and eight.
