….Nigeria is determined to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics- Nimrod
Nigeria female volleyball team are through to the last round of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers to be decided in May 2020.
The pair of TOCHUKWU NNOROGUA and ISABELLA LAJU on Saturday defeated their Zambian counterparts 2-0, 21-7, 21-12 in The CAVB CONTINENTAL CUP at JABI LAKE GROUND in Abuja.
The two teams as a result of the absence of Kenya, Congo Democratic Republic and Cape Verde qualified for the last round.
Speaking after the qualifier, President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation NVF, ENGINEER MUSA NIMROD while praising the performances of the girls expresses confidence that the Nigerian ladies will land in Tokyo when the Olympic Games begins.
Nimrod also assures Nigerians that the ranking of the female beach volleyball team will improve in the coming days.
He said they were not ready to make the little mistake that robbed them from participating at the Rio Olympics.
“We lost going to Rio in the 2016 it was due to just a mere and a silly mistake but this time around we don’t want to see such mistakes happened again.
“I believe this is our period to go to Tokyo. The players are ready to give their best to go to Tokyo 2020 and make the country proud.
“We have hosted the competition now our points will increase and we have to moved to the next level ranked number 2 or number 1 in Africa.
“We know that number two in Africa (Kenya) didn’t come, they will now lose a point and that is the Implication of not participating in this round of the qualifiers,” he said
“Only one slot was allocated to Africa at the last Olympics in Brazil, but we hope more slots will be available this time around and we are determined to be part of it.
“The players will remain in camp for the last round of qualifier which venue and date has not been decided,” he disclosed.
ENGR. NIMROD however noted that they are still chasing qualification in the male category saying that the team will soon commence the second phase their qualifiers in Mozambique on March 19.
Nigeria is currently classified in group A of the men Africa Beach Volleyball Tokyo 2020 Olympics Qualifiers.
Mozambique will host the group A qualifiers at the Costa do Sol Beach in Maputo; the participating countries are Nigeria, Tunisia, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville and the host Mozambique from March 26 to March 30.
