13 teams (seven male and six female) from four African countries will participate in the Zone 3 Africa Volleyball Club Championships which begins on Monday at the Sports Hall of the University of Lagos.
The week-long tournament will see Nigeria presenting the highest number of clubs parading three male teams; Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Customs Service and Nigeria Police Force as well as four female teams which includes; Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Army and Kada Emeralds.
Ghana is presenting her two best clubs, Ghana Police in the male and female categories, Togo will also be represented by OTR VBC in both categories, while Benin Republic is presenting two male clubs, Finance and Entente VBC in the male category.
Speaking with Sportinglife.ng in Lagos on Sunday, the President of the CAVB Zone 3, Paul Atchoe expressed confidence on the ability of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation in hosting effectively judging by the successes recorded in the last edition.
“Nigeria is our bigger brother in the zone. Nigeria is the only country in the category three in the zone and as far as FIVB is concerned, to be in category three means the country has all the facilities, which gets all the support from the state to put in a lot of developmental programs. So we are here to also tap from those experiences from Nigeria.
“The essence of this competition is to promote, develop and at the same time bring opportunities to the doorsteps of participants. Allowing participants who under normal circumstances will not get the privilege of playing against top teams the opportunity to do so,” said the Ghanaian.
The Chairman, Sports Organising Commission of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Prof Olatunde Morakinyo assured all participants of a hitch-free tournament.
“In spite of the paucity of funds, the federation is hosting a successful championship and we have done a lot of work to make sure that the event becomes a success. In terms of housing, all the teams are accommodated in hotels in spite of small amount of money that is being paid for participation. But everything is being done by the federation to make sure that they are comfortable and the competition goes well,” Morakinyo told Sportinglife.ng.
List of teams:
Male (Seven)
Nigeria Customs Service
Nigeria Immigration Service
Nigeria Police Force
Ghana Police
Finance of Benin
Entente of Benin
OTR of Togo
Female (Six)
Nigeria Customs Service
Nigeria Immigration Service
Kada Emeralds
Ghana Police
Nigeria Army
OTR of Togo
Day 1 Fixtures
Male 8:30pm
Nigeria Police (Blue) v Entente of Benin (Yellow)
Ghana Police vs OTR of Togo
Nigeria Customs Service (Green) vs Nigeria Immigration Service (Blue)
Female 12:30pm
Nigeria Customs Service v Kada Emeralds
Ghana Police vs Nigeria Army
3:30pm
Male
Ghana Police vs Entente of Benin
Nigeria Police v OTR of Togo
6pm
Female
Kada vs OTR of Togo
Day 2 Fixtures
Male
Nigeria Customs Service v Finance of Benin
Entente of Benin v OTR of Togo
Female
Nigeria Immigration vs Nigeria Army
Nigeria Customs vs OTR of Togo
Male
Ghana Police v Nigeria Police
Finance of Benin v Nigeria Immigration
Female
Ghana Police vs Nigeria Immigration