NAIROBI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon has turned out to be favorite to lift the Women's Under-20 African Nations Championship title after they claimed their second straight victory over Tanzania here on Wednesday.
With the winner of the nine-team competition expected to represent Africa at the World Under-20 Championships in 2019, the West Africans have exerted their authority, winning over the Tanzanians 25-16, 25-14, 25-20.
Cameroon head coach Joel Rene Akono believes his side will weather the storm and win the tournament, which also has host Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Rwanda, Mauritius, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Nigeria.
"The squad is gelling well and our target is to win the title and secure the ticket to World Championships. But we respect each team and will take each game, one at a time," said Akono.
The victory put Cameroon, who have become the tournament dark horses, on top of Pool A with a win-loss ratio of 2-0 ahead of Kenya who are 1-0 in their only match followed by Nigeria 0-1 and Tanzania 0-2.
Egypt continued their winning rhythm in Pool B as they set the third victory over Rwanda 3-1 (25-14, 16-25, 25-16, 25-22) in a thrilling encounter to lead Pool B with three straight wins. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
outlined the second victory over Uganda in epic tiebreaker 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-18, 15-9) to improve to 2-1.
The competition acts also as a qualifier for the 2019 FIVB World Championship of thes age category in 2019.
Federation International de Volleyball (FIVB) has opted to award Africa with two slots, which means top two in the competition will secure their tickets to the global contest.
