By Victor Okoye
Abuja, April 13, 2025 – It promises to be a thrilling and entertaining final as Egyptian power houses, Ahly and their home and continental rival, Zamalek take the centre stage as the curtains draw to a close today at the African Women’s Volleyball Inter-Cub Championship which started on April 1.
A total of 16 teams started the journey but like they have dominated the round leather game, football, in Africa, the two Egyptian teams would have to be at their best to cart home the trophy and win the prize money at stake as champions of Africa.
But head or tail, the cup will berth in the Land of the Pharaohs with nine-time winners and record winners, Ahly, adding more to their cabinet or Zamalek become third time winners in a row having come into the championship as the defending champions and winning the last two editions.
It has however been an explosive, exhilarating and wonderful experience as teams gave their best but like in all competitions or tournaments or championship such as this, only one team will emerge as winners while others will go back to the drawing board to re-strategise and work on their deficiencies.
To reach the finals, Zamalek defeated Kenya Prisons 3 set to 1 (25-12, 25-20, 22-25, 27-25) while Ahly led by their inspirational captain, Maryar Khalifa hit Carthage of Tunisia hard by 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-21).
On why her team has had a very good competition so far, Khalifa said, “We discussed with our wings and we played well and we won. We have been performing well from the start of the competition and our secret is that we have been focusing on the championship.
“We want to take the cup and we want to go back to for Egypt with the cup and we are focusing on every step on the way; the training and the matches. And everyday, we are discussing on how to focus on the matches and that’s what every player and the team is doing. We are looking forward to taking the cup back home to Egypt.”
Meanwhile, host Nigeria can take consolation in the fact her representatives, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) finished in the 10th and 11th positions (after the classification games).
