South Africa's Sekhonyana said hosts Rwanda were a challenge as the two countries clashed on the opening day of the tournament on Thursday |
Gusenyi, Rwanda , May 24, 2012 - The CAVB Beach Volleyball Women’s Continental Cup final kicked off on Thursday with emotions high in the Olympic qualification tournament which is taking place in Gusenyi, Rwanda from May 24 to 26.
The eventual champions will earn a berth to the London 2012 Olympic Games in July and August, with the second and third ranked teams travelling to Tortoli, Italy in late June.
Faced with a challenging start, Rwanda’s youngest team Nzayisenga/Mutatsimpundu were the focal interest of sports fans with the duo taking on experienced South African duo Sekhnyana/Williams in the opening match.
Despite the best efforts of the home pair it was Sekhnyana/Williams who stole the win, in a thrilling three sets (21-12 , 19-21 ,15-13).
Luyt/Strydom then notched up a second win for the South Africans with a 21-18 , 21-17 victory over Uwineza/Hakizmana before Sekhnyana/Williams beat the same team 21-10, 21-18 to book their place in the semifinals.
However, it was not all doom and gloom for the hosts as they finally registered a win, with Nzayisenga/Mutatsimpundu beating Luyt/Strydom 21-15, 21-7 to make the final score 3-1.
“It’s was very hard to begin the competition but once we found our sensation, it was all right,” Sekhnyana said. “We played a very good team in Rwanda and they are very young. We will improve as we play more matches.”
The country will now face second seeds and 2011 All Africa Games gold and silver medallists Mauritius in the semifinal, who themselves beat Congo RDC three games to one.
In the other semifinal is Kenya, who had a bye thanks to their billing as top seeds, and Mozambique, who beat Algeria in four games to book their place among the final four.
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