President of the Nigeria Volleyball Federation (NVBF), Engr. Musa Nimrod has stated that the National female Volleyball team is set to do the country proud when they jet out of the shore’s of Nigeria Thursday ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers alongside four other African countries in Cameroon.
He made this known Tuesday when he addressed newsmen in Kaduna at the team’s camp ahead of the nine day event.
“I don’t like making promises, but underrate these young girls at your own peril. We are building a strong team that will make the country proud in Italy 2024, but it doesn’t mean that we will make up the numbers.
” Other African participating countries know that Nigeria is coming with a brand new team, but i can assure you that Nigeria no more carry the underdog tag at that level. It’s so unfortunate that only the female team will be competing in Cameroon for obvious reasons and couple with the fact that they did very well at the last All African Games.
“We have done our part as Federation by giving them the best of preparation and by spending several weeks in camp and i want to urge them to be good Ambassadors in Cameroon.
“It’s like a General preparing his army for war, he’s always confident of victory. Therefore, we’re very confident of picking the sole ticket.
Engr. Musa Nimrod further stated that the Federation is expecting its Technical Adviser, a Brazilian in Nigeria in January and the main focus will be to develop Volleyball from the grassroots.
Head coach of the Nigeria female National Volleyball team, Ajayi Samuel, also expressed optimism of picking the sole ticket when the African qualifiers begin.
“We have spent three weeks in camp and i must say that my young and energetic team are battle ready. We’re participating to win the qualifiers and pick the sole ticket. Countries like Egypt, Kenya and Cameroon are ahead of us, but this time around, it will be completely different.
“The atmosphere in camp is cool and high. The Federation’s President, Engr. Musa Nimrod has not stopped supporting us. If not for his tremendous support, it would have been almost impossible to participate. Since he came on board few years ago, Volleyball has been on the rise and at a different level completely.
Captain of the team, Okonmah Theresa Nwamaka, said: “Nigerians will see something different in Cameroon with the level of training, caliber of players and coaches at our disposal by the grace of God.
The Nigerian female National team would jet out Thursday with twelve players, two coaches, one Secretary general and one referee and will compete alongside Egypt, Kenya, Botswana and host Cameroon from 2nd – 10th January, 2020 for the sole ticket.