Rwanda Sitting Volleyball team head coach Mossad Rashad insists his teams will need to sweat for results to survive early elimination from the 2023 World Para Volley Sitting Volleyball World Cup after both teams were handed ‘tough’ opponents in their respective groups during a draw ceremony held in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.

The women's national team found themselves in Group B alongside hosts Egypt, Mongolia, China and Germany while the men’s team were pooled in Group A alongside Egypt and Iraq.

Commenting on the draw, Mossad said, "Tough groups because we have been tied with the big teams. But we have a talented group of players and we started preparations early enough, it gives us a good chance to do well.”

"We don’t feel pressure but we are going to give our best against better teams. We have been to many international Sitting Volleyball competitions and we have managed to perform well. I have a feeling that my players are going to do the same or even be better in this competition,” he added

Africa will be represented by Algeria, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Egypt in men’s World Cup while only two nations, namely Rwanda and hosts Egypt, will represent the continent in the women’s tournament.

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Overall, Rwanda tops Africa's women's rankings followed by Egypt while the hosts top men’s rankings well ahead of Rwanda which comes in second place.

Full draw:

Men

Pool A: Egypt, Rwanda and Iraq

Pool B: Iran, Japan and Algeria

Pool C: Brazil, China, India and Nigeria

Pool D: Germany, Ukraine, France and Great Britain

Women

Pool A: Egypt, China, Rwanda, Germany and Mongolia.

Pool B: Canada, Brazil, Slovenia, Ukraine and Netherlands.