Following their elimination from 2014 World Volleyball championship qualifiers in Senegal at the weekend, the head coach of the Gambia Women Volleyball team, Ebrima Nyass, has said the team’s failure to qualify for the 2014 WorldVolleyball Championship was due to lack of experience, exposure and finance.
The team recently returned from Dakar, Senegal, where they took part in the 2014 FIVB World Volleyball Championship qualifiers from 18 to 21 July 2013.
Coach Nyass, who spoke with Pointsport yesterday, lamented that majority of the Senegalese team players that beat the Gambian side are playing in Europe, with only two players in their squad.
Nyass said they finished fourth after Cape Verde, adding that they lost to the host nation Senegal, which really dashed their chances of qualifying for the championship.
He added that his team performed extremely well but due to lack of experience and exposure they could not progress to the next round of the World Volleyball championship qualifiers.
According to Nyass, the team trained just one week prior to the qualifiers, which contributed to their poor performance in the qualifiers, coupled with lack of support and motivation from the relevant state authorities and the private sector.
Nyass seized the opportunity to call on the government, the private sector and others to render support to the Gambia Volleyball Association in their aspirations to take the discipline to higher heights.
The team’s Captain Mariama Sowe expressed her disappointment with the government and the private sector’s failure to render support to the team for their trip to Senegal.
Sowe said the team had played to the best of their ability but could not qualify, adding that lack of experience played great part in their losing out.
The team also lost to Guinea Conakry.
President Jammeh, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, as well as the Chief of Defence Staff of the Gambia Armed Forces and the Inspector General of Police, were commended for their efforts.
