The club claimed the Men's African Volleyball Club Championship at the expense of country rivals Ahli. Inas Mazhar reports Zamalek came from behind in the final and decisive set to beat arch rivals Ahli 3-2 at home and snatch the title for the fourth time in the history of the competition since its creation in 1984. The high spectator turnout in Cairo enjoyed the thriller two-hour victory. Zamalek repeated the victory over their compatriots for the second year in a row after they achieved the same result in Misurata, Libya, in 2008 when they beat Ahli 3-1 to claim their third title. Ahli failed to win a record ninth title, which was a disappointment to the club which had also lost the national handball league title to Zamalek a week before. It was the second time in a row that the final of the African clubs championship had seen an all-Egyptian final. Both teams had reached the final by two deserved wins. Hosts Ahli beat Ahli Tripoli of Libya while Zamalek knocked out FAP of Cameroon in the semi-finals. Zamalek's historic win over their compatriots came in an exciting five set final 3-2 (14-25, 25- 23, 13-25, 25-19, 15-13) in 91 minutes of action and spectator reaction. Ahli led twice 1-0 and 2- 1 in sets but Zamalek won the fourth set, the tiebreak and the match. The final was attended by CAVB president Amr Elwani, CAVB first vice president Tubby Reddy, Ahli board president Hassan Hamdi, CAVB vice president and control committee president Baba Sy, SOC delegates Okba Gougam and Morakinyo Ebenezer, referee delegates Hassan Ahmed and Lahcen Amari, CAVB technical directory Howeida Mondi and Ahli board members. Ahli Tripoli won the bronze medal after beating FAP of Cameroon. GSU of Kenya finished in 5th position after beating Sonel of Cameroon and APR of Rwanda finished 7th after beating Port Douala of Cameroon. Chlef of Algeria ended 9th after their victory over Inter Club. Ahli Beni Ghazi of Libya placed 11th after their victory over Defence Force of Ethiopia and Prisons Service of Nigeria ended their matches in 13th place after they beat Mugher Cement of Ethiopia. Liberte of South Africa ranked 15th after beating Force Terrestre. Earlier, in the match for 17th and 18th place, VC Tonnere of RD Congo beat Muzinga of Burundi. In the final, Ahli started the match aggressively using the strong spike service of Ahmed Salah and Hossam Youssef that unbalanced Zamalek's defence and didn't allow them to apply their attacking strategy. Ahli led 8-4 at the first technical timeout (FTT) and continued to lead 16-7 at the second technical timeout (STT). Zamalek started to improve their blocking via Mohamed Ali and Ali Hussein but Ahli attackers blocked to win the set 25-14. Zamalek improved in the second set especially in the reception and backline defence which allowed the skillful setter Ashraf Aboul Hassan to organise the combinations that were used well by the wing spiker Mohamed Abdel-Moneim. Zamalek led 8-6 at the FTT and then 16-11 at the STT. Ahli regained their rhythm through the skillful setting by Hossam as they came near, but Moneim was brilliant enough to settle the matter for Zamalek 25-23 and level the score 1-1. Ahli took charge as they led throughout the third set with the efficient spikes of Mahmoud Raouf and veteran left attacker Hamdi El-Safi. Zamalek tried to recover after the STT but Ahli won the set easily 25-13. The fourth set was underlined by the receptions of libero Ahmed Kamal and the unstoppable smashes of Saleh Fathi to lead 8-6 at the FTT. Again Zamalek controlled the net through centre Ali Hussein who performed well to prevent Ahli's attacks. Zamalek's motivation increased and they scored frequent points from rapid attacks and exploited Ahli's many mistakes to win the set 25-19 and extend the match to a tiebreak. Ahli had an early lead in the tiebreak 8-6, then extended it to 10- 6. But Mohamed Azzab won six successive service points that gave Zamalek the lead 12-10. Ahli struggled to save the match but Zamalek was determined to hold on 15-13. In the match for the bronze, Ahli Tripoli of Libya played a brave match to achieve the first ever medal for a Libyan team in African competitions after beating FAP of Cameroon 3-2 (25- 19, 20-25, 16-25, 26-24, 15-13) in a thriller breaker that spellbinded spectators for 105 minutes. Ahli Tripoli won the first set through their disciplined block of Majdi Salem, but FAP improved their reception and backline defence to win two successive sets through the potent spikes of Jumiob Myabeye and Sem Bolegombai. The Libyan team's performance rose to the utmost to come back and win the fourth set. They were also better in the tiebreak to win 15-13 after an exciting performance. On the sidelines of the tournament CAVB president Elwani held a coaches course attended by 30 participants in the framework of the development plan adopted by the CAVB board of administration. The six-day course fulfilled all the necessary needs for modern-day coaching. The course was given by two famed FIVB instructors: Abdel-Hamid El-Wassimi who presented many recent programmes in coaching and court tactics; and Sherif El-Shemerli who gave theoretical and practical lectures. The course was supervised by Tomazs Kuropka from Poland who gave practical lectures. The participating coaches said they were very satisfied with the course, adding they would apply what they had learned to improve their countries and zones. Elwani was happy to declare the result of the course 100 per cent and to see the first step of the development plan coming to fruition. He promised the attending federations to continue developing continental zones. "It is nice to see the result of this course and the standard of the participants but we hope to work to use practically the results of this course," said Elwani while he was handing out certificates to the participants. "I also want to thank the FIVB and its president Mr Wei for their full support, technically and financially." The theoretical part of the course was hosted at the Egyptian Olympic Committee headquarters in Cairo, while the practical side took place in Ahli club, the host of the African competition.
