We really hope the political crisis in Egypt will reach an end.
The headlines we read about the country are just heartbreaking.
Despite the troubles back home, Egypt’s Under 21 squad was able to fly to Turkey and compete at the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship. During the FIVB Press Conference, Coach Gaber Abouzeid revealed that they they never had time to prepare for the tournament.
”Our preparation was not as complete as I would have liked and without any friendly games. We are not very familiar with the level of most of our opponents. We have a chance to see them in action before our first official match. Our team is not bad and we hope to make a good performance in Ankara.
We want to do something good for our troubled nation.”
Team captain captain Islam Abdelkader added…
”We expect to play some strong games against the best teams in the world. We expect to gain a lot of valuable experience that would also help us in future championships.”
As of press time, Egypt won their first pool play match versus China in en epic 5 set match (27-29, 25-23, 19-25, 26-24, 15-8).
Our hearts go out to the Egyptian squad. We hope they will continue to play and fight for their country and that the ongoing political division will be resolved.
Hang in there boys & good luck!
Click HERE to follow the FIVB Men’s U21 World Championship.
(source & images: FIVB)