Nigeria will not be at the men’s volleyball event of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games after suffering a painful exit at the ongoing African Championship in Tunisia.
The Nigerian side fell 3-2 to Morocco in a tense quarterfinal clash played on Monday, September 21.
Nigeria started brightly, taking the opening set 25-20, but Morocco hit back to claim the next two sets 25-15 and 25-20 to take control of the match.
The West Africans refused to give up and edged a dramatic fourth set 26-24 to force a decider.
Morocco, however, showed more composure in the final set, winning 15-12 to seal a place in the semifinals and end Nigeria’s Olympic qualification hopes.
Nigeria will now shift attention to the classification round, where they face Rwanda in the 5th to 9th place match on Wednesday, September 23.
Reacting to the loss, head coach Ryan Masajedi said he was proud of his players despite the defeat.
The Japanese tactician noted that the impact from the bench kept Nigeria alive in the fourth set.
“We gave everything and I am proud of the players. The bench made the difference in the fourth set when we thought it was all over,” Masajedi said.
“To be honest, we now know our strengths and our weaknesses. After this tournament we will review what went wrong.”
“The focus now is on the next game and the players will be ready,” he added.
