The Nigeria female beach volleyball team wrapped up their outing at the first ever Africa Beach Volleyball Games with a 21-17, 21-12 victory over Mauritius to finish fifth.

In the semifinal of the competition, the Nigerian team had failed to beat Kenya who proved superb for the Nigerian ladies with a 21-13, 21-15 victory.

Despite the semifinal loss, head coach of the team, Francis Imoudo commended the efforts of the girls while expressing his delight about the drastic improvement in the standard of Beach Volleyball in Africa.

“Despite placing fifth at the beach volleyball at the inaugural Africa Beach Games, I must commend my players for giving their opponents good fights. All we have to do is make sure the players continue playing whether there is a championship or not.

“Few months ago, Nigeria hosted the Africa Beach Volleyball Cup Seniors in Abuja and we saw upset. This time around in Cape Verde, teams most people never thought could enter the finals did; this shows the game is improving in Africa”.

Also, President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Engineer Musa Nimrod expressed his satisfaction with the improvement of the team while vowing to ensure indoor/beach volleyball are taken to the nooks and cranny of the country.

“The girls put up a wonderful show in Cape Verde and I am sure the volleyball family are excited. This is just the first edition and the federation is optimistic that Nigeria will excel at the next edition,” he said.