Nigeria and Morocco snatch Africa’s Olympic beach passes!

Esther & Pamela and Elgraoui & El Gharouti triumph as continental champions in Alexandria

Published 06:19, 22 Aug 2026

Triumphant Esther & Pamela (source: CAVB- African Volleyball Confederation)

Nigeria and Morocco snatched Africa’s tickets to the Olympic beach volleyball tournaments at Los Angeles 2028. Esther Onyinye Mbah & Pamela Miyoum Bawa conquered the women’s crown at the CAVB Beach Volleyball African Championships in Alexandria on Saturday to secure an Olympic berth for their country. Zouheir Elgraoui & Soufiane El Gharouti triumphed in the men’s competition to make sure Morocco is present at LA 2028 beach volleyball.

Elgraoui & El Gharouti celebrate as continental champions (source: cavb.africa)

Pamela, who is only 15 years old, and 19-year-old Esther represented their country at the FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championship in Shangluo two years ago. Now, they will have a chance to represent it at the Olympics in another two years.

At the African Championship in Egypt, the fourth-seeded Nigerian teenagers finished Pool D runners-up after losing one of their three pool matches to bottom-seeded Alexandra Erhart & Nora Nezha Jihane Darrhar of Morocco. But that was Esther & Pamela’s only setback of the tournament. In Saturday’s gold medal match, they met the same Moroccan opponents and this time they took them out in straight sets, 2-0 (21-18, 21-11), to grab the African crown and passage to LA 2028. It was their second continental podium, after earning bronze last year. The 2026 silver was also the second medal for 2022 champions Nora Darrhar.

This year’s bronze went to Mozambique’s Vanessa Muianga & Ana Sinaportar. Seeded 20^th in the 21-team main draw, they made it to the semifinals undefeated, and after losing to Esther & Pamela in a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) straight-setter, they bounced back with a 2-1 (21-11, 16-21, 15-12) victory over top-seeded home favorites Marwa Abdelhady & Doaa Elghobashy of Egypt. Vanessa & Sinaportar also made the podium with bronze in 2022, while Vanessa took silver last year with a different partner as well.

2026 CAVB Beach Volleyball African Championship – women: all results

The second-seeded men’s team, a cooperation between defending 2025 African champion Soufiane El Gharouti and the continental champion of the previous three editions Zouheir Elgraoui, who was also a 2025 silver medalist and a two-time Olympian, cruised through the tournament in Alexandria without dropping a single set in seven matches played.

In Saturday’s final showdown, Elgraoui & El Gharouti mastered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) shutout of 19^th-seeded Algerians Kallouche Mohamed-Islem & Ayyoub Dekkiche, who also reached the gold medal match undefeated to earn the silver, Algeria’s first medal in the history of the competition.

Tunisia’s Amine Lengliz & Adem Elmeddeb, seeded 17^th, completed the podium with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) sweep of the bronze medal match against Carlos Muondo & Eduardo Afonso of Angola. It was Tunisia’s second podium, after the country also claimed the continental crown back at the inaugural edition in 2015.

2026 CAVB Beach Volleyball African Championship – men all results