FIVB Qualifier: 12 Nigerian Players Storm Cote d’Ivoire

The coach of the Female Na
tional Volleyball Team, Tony Oghuma-Eghimai, has promised that his team would be the first to represent Nigeria at the FIVB World Women’s Championship.
Oghuma-Eghimai told  Tidesports source in Abuja, shortly after the team’s morning training session, that his players had been training seriously for the competition.
He said this had been since the team resumed camping on November 20 in preparation for the 2014 FIVB World Women’s Championship Zonal Qualifiers in Cote d’Ivoire.
The zonal qualifiers, which have Nigeria grouped alongside Cote d’Ivoire and Togo in Zone 3, will hold from November 27 to December 1.
“For now, the preparation level is high and the girls are taking this assignment very serious.
“This is because they want to make history for themselves by being the first Nigerian female volleyball team that will qualify for a World Championship.
“So, with this at the back of their minds, the girls are ready to go and they are working very hard,’’ Oghuma-Eghimai said.
He said the team was well equipped to overcome the shortcoming of starting the camping late.
“Definitely, the short time we have for preparations will tell on the players. But, as professionals, we are well equipped to know how to overcome such shortcomings.
“For the past one month, I have been communicating with the players, guiding them to train.
“I also gave them tips on what they should do to keep fit and how to correct their weaknesses which I have noticed over the years.
“So, I think with that, all what we are doing here is just a celebration of what they have been doing in their respective clubsides and states,’’ Oghuma-Eghimai said.
The coach said the team had some virtues which would work as an advantage for them, listing them to include age, height, discipline and the players’ collective enthusiasm.
“And I enjoy seeing all these things in them, knowing that they will serve as an advantage to us,’’ he said.