APR under pressure after Al Ahly defeat

AHEAD of last night’s tie with DR. Congo’s Canon Ndijili, APR were desperate to make amends for their 3-1 loss against Al Ahly, one of the favourites at the on-going Women’s African Club Volleyball Championship in Nairobi. After registering a bright start (3-2 win over Ethiopia’s Federal Prisons) to their debut campaign in the championship, the army side faltered against the five-time champions. Having lost the first set 21-25, Paul Bitok’s side bounced back with a 25-19 second set victory. However, the first timers were unable to keep the rhythm as they lost the next two successive sets (12-25, 13-25) to gift the Egyptian side their second consecutive win in the championship and a slot in the quarter-finals. After Tuesday’s defeat, APR’s manager Augustin Munyandamutsa described last night’s clash as a must win game. “There is no way out for us other than winning our final pool game against Canon. They lost to Al Ahly (3-0) so we feel that we can get something out of this game,” Munyandamutsa said. With Al Ahly already through to the quarter finals, the remaining slot from Pool D is up for grabs amongst APR, Federal Prisons and Canon. Elsewhere, defending champions Kenya Prisons also booked their quarter-final slot after a 3-1 win over Cameroon’s Bafia. It was their second victory after a comfortable 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-14) day one victory over Kutlwano of Botswana. This year, the competition has attracted a record entry of 16 teams. The teams are divided into four pools. The top two teams in each pool qualify to the quarterfinals while the third and fourth ranked teams play classification games for the 9-16 positions. Pool A- Pipeline (KEN), VC (DR Congo), Bejaia (ALG) and Water Sports (ETH) Pool B- Prisons (KEN), Kutwano (BOT), Bafia (CMR) and Les AS (BUR) Pool C- KCB (KEN), Injs (CMR), KAVC (UGA) and Jadida (MOR) Pool D- Al Ahly (EGY), APR (RWA), Canon (DR Congo) and Federal prisons (ETH) Ends

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APR under pressure after Al Ahly defeat