World Beach Volleyball Tourney: Nigeria U-19 Boys Storm Sierra Leone

After failing to qualify Nigeria’s senior national team for the Olympics Beach Volleyball, the Nigeria Beach Volleyball Federation, NBVF, has now shifted its attention to the U-19 junior team to qualify for the World Beach Volleyball Championship, holding in Larnaka, Cyprus, from 11-14 July, 2012.

Chairman of Nigeria Beach Volleyball Committee, Engineer Musa Nimrod, while speaking at the weekend, disclosed that Nigeria’s U-19 boys are set to travel to Sierre Leone on 27 May to honour their match against their West Africa neighbours in one of the qualifiers for the World Beach Volleyball Championship.

He said: “We are presently preparing our players for the qualifying match in Sierre Leone next month and we are set to storm to the West-Africa nation on 27 May with our best hands for the match.”

It will be the first time in the tournament’s 11-year history that the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus will stage the competition.

The country hosted FIVB Challenger events in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and has also set the stage for a number of international tournaments. However, this will be the biggest Federation of International Volleyball, FIVB, event to be held in the country to date.

The 2011 edition of the tournament was held in Umag, Croatia with Polish pair Lukasz Kaczmarek and Macjej Kosiak beating Norway’s Runnar Sannarnes and Andreas Takvan to gold.

Canada’s Grant O’Gorman and Aaron Nusbaum also saw off Switzerland’s Benjamin Lerch and Dennis Lerch for the bronze medal.

—Bamidele Olowosagba