African Games: Nigeria’s volleyball teams get automatic qualification

The Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVF) on Friday said the country’s male and female volleyball teams have qualified for the 13th edition of the Ghana 2024 African Games.

The Technical Director of the federation, Martin Melandi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

Melandi said the automatic qualification was because of the failure of Benin Republic to honour its match engagements.

He said the inability of the Benin Republic to fund travel expenses of its teams was given as reason for not honouring the engagements.

“This is Zone three for West Africa. We were supposed to play against Benin Republic, we got their assurance but they withdrew at the last minute.

“Ali Yaro, Zonal President of West Africa, has written to the Confederation of African Volleyball that Nigeria’s volleyball teams have qualified automatically.

“So, we had to organise exhibition matches for them with some selected Lagos players. This is their first game since they entered camp, I am optimistic that with subsequent friendlies they will perform well,” he said.

The men’s team led by Moses Gana defeated Lagos State-selected volleyball team 3-0 in three games- 30-28, 25-21, 25-22.

African Games: Nigeria’s volleyball teams get automatic qualification