Beach Volleyball: Nigeria Names Squad For Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers

The head coach of Nigeria Beach Volleyball Teams, Francis Imoudu has named the final 8-player squad that will be representing the country at this month’s Tokyo Olympics Qualifiers in Morocco.

The squad was named on Friday before the team jetted off to the qualifiers in Morocco which kicks off on 20 June 2021.

Imoudu named the quartet of Francisca Ikhiede, Tochukwu Nnoruga, Amarachi Uchechukwu and Albertina Francis as Nigeria’s representatives in the women’s category while Obayemi Ogunshina, Hilary Simon, Emmanuel Chidebere and Emenike Ezike will compete in the men’s category.

The Maiduguri based coach will be assisted at the qualifiers and in Tokyo by experienced former beach volleyball international, Kayode Ajilore.

Explaining the reasoning behind his choices for the squad, Imoudu said: “The players have been in the right frame of mind ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers.

“We just ended our 3rd phase of the camping exercise in Badagry and the next assignment is to bring home the sole ticket in the men and women categories.”

Imoudu stated that Team Nigeria will not be fazed by the profile of other African opponents because the nation parades some of the best pairs in Africa.

Nigeria beach volleyball players, Obayemi Ogunshina and Tochukwu Nnoruga promised to give their best when the nation files out to compete for the sole ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The first phase of the teams’ camp took place in Kaduna while the second phase happened in Cotonou, Benin Republic.