Under the leadership of Italian coach Flavio Gulinelli, the Egyptian national men’s volleyball team recorded two victories in the ongoing African qualifications for Rios’s 2016 Summer Olympics. The qualifying tournament is currently being held in the Republic of the Congo.
The team’s first victory came last Friday, in the team’s first qualifying match, were it defeated the qualifying tournament’s hosts the Republic of Congo’s national team 3-1. With this win, Egypt’s national team qualified semi-finals.
The second match was against the Tunisian national men’s volleyball team. Egypt defeated Tunisia 3-0.
An similar result was achieved by the Egyptian national men’s volleyball team against the Tunisian national volleyball men’s team was in the 1973 All-Africa Games, celebrated in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos, where Egypt also defeated Tunisia 3-0. Thanks to this victory Egypt won the 1973 All-Africa Games in the volleyball’s competitions.
The All-Africa Games started in 1965, and are held every four years. Egypt won the tournament six out of these 12 times, in 1973, 1987, 1991, 2003, 2007 and 2015. Tunisia won once in 1978. The short-lived political union between Egypt and Syria, under the name of the United Arab Republic, won the first All-Africa Games, held in 1965, in the Republic of the Congo’s capital, Brazzaville.
The All-Africa Games include the following sports: athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing, chess, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, football, gymnastics, handball, field hockey, judo, karate, kick-boxing, netball, rowing, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling.
Egypt’s national men’s volleyball team had one previous appearance in the Olympic Games in 2000 in Sydney where they finished in 11th place.
