Volleyball: Good start for Black Spikers

Ghana’s female volleyball team, Black Spikers, last Wednesday began their All Africa Games campaign on a good note with a resounding 3-0 victory over their Congolese counterparts in a preliminary round match at the Henry Elende Volleyball Centre.

But their male compatriots stumbled against the highly-fancied Cameroun, losing 0-3. The Camerounians won in straight sets 25-20, 25-22 and 25-14.

The defeated Ghanaian men now have an opportunity to make amends when they play Cape Verde in their next match before taking on Uganda and Seychelles in a fairly balanced group.

The victorious Spikers also take a similar route in the women’s division as they play group rivals Uganda, Seychelles and Cape Verde.

At the Revolution Badminton Court in Kintele, Daniel Sam and Emmanuel Donkor played an inspired game as Ghana defeated hosts Congo 2-0 in the men's badminton doubles, while the Ghanaian pair of Victoria Asmah and Grace Atipaka achieved a similar feat with a 2-0 win over Congo in the women’s competition.

The mixed doubles saw Gifty Mensah and Emmanuel Donkor team up to defeat their Congolese opponents 2-0 in the preliminary round.
In the men's singles, Daniel Sam defeated his Congolese counterpart 2-0 and Gifty Mensah also overpowered her Congolese opponent 2-0.

In fencing, Nazif Hamza lost all six matches to his Egyptian and Tunisian opponents in the sabre and foil events. The 23- year- old was beaten 5-3,5-3,5-3 by his Egyptian counterparts before losing 5-4, 5-4 and 5-3 to the Tunisian.
Another fencer, Samba Aboubhakhari, also lost 3-5 to his South African counterpart in the foil event.