African club volleyball championship: Cameroonian teams earn brilliant start in Cairo.

The teams registered the brilliant entry after securing victories in their opening matches in the group stage of the 18-team tournament which effectively went underway in the North African country on Monday April 13.

Litto Team easily downed Nigeria’s Vipers and Partners, and Seychelles’ Arsu Ladies to claim a comfortable seat in its race towards securing a qualification ticket to the knockout stages from Group D.

The side’s sister team and domestic archrivals, Mayo Kani bagged a smooth 3-0 set win over Cote d’Ivoire’s C.O Descartes to lay a solid foundation ahead of its storied day two clash which took place against the National Alcohol Factory of Ethiopia late yesterday.

Litto Team sends early warning signals

Litto Team which is regarded as one of the most notorious teams in the 2026 tournament owing to its steady rise in the competition over the last years, opened wide the floodgates when it humiliated the Vipers and Partners of Nigeria in the opening game of the Cairo event on Monday.

The team beat the West African club 3-1 sets after notably handing the debuting Nigerian team a fearsome 25-6points walloping in the first set of the match.

The Cameroonian club followed up the ruthless performance in the first set with a 25-22points domination in the second set in what many pundits evaluated as a rather complacent display from the Littoral Region outfit owing to what the selection demonstrated minutes earlier in the first set.

But the Nigerians proved doubters wrong in the third set when they stunned the 2025 quarterfinalists with a 25-19points beating to fully announce themselves as a potential dark horse in the Egypt tournament.

Litto Team, however, quickly reinstated order minutes later when they humiliated the Nigerians 25-13points in the fourth set to secure the dream win in the opening fixture. 

The Cameroonian flagbearers maintained the same spirit of ruthlessness in their second match on Tuesday, comfortably outplaying the Arsu Ladies of Seychelles with a 3-0 set beating.

The club claimed a 25-17points win in the first set before easily sailing through the Seychelles Island club 25-13points and 25-10points in the second and third sets. 

The Arsu Ladies are fresh from finishing as runner up at the African Zone seven regional volleyball championship at home in Roche Caiman and were tipped as one of the teams with the potential to create an upset at the continental stages during the ongoing series in Cairo.

The victory over the selection leaves Litto Team in a promising position in the race to qualify for the next round of the tournament. 

This is despite the result that the Cameroonian club will register in its last group fixture against Kenya Commercial Bank, the two-time continental champions who are regarded as one of the toughest outfits in the tournament. 

Ruthless Mayo Kani 

Mayo Kani is generally less dreaded compared to Litto Team, the team having notably been easily beaten in the final of the 2025 women’s volleyball cup of Cameroon.

But the outfit which joined Litto Team last year in making the quarterfinals of the 2025 edition of African championship, is still to show any major signs of weakness in Cairo.

In its first game against Cote d’Ivoire’s C.O Descartes, the outfit went all out to easily humiliate the West African team with a 3-0 set beating.

The club claimed a 25-21points win in the first set before rounding up business in the game with 25-14points and 25-15points victories in the second and third sets of the encounter. 

The performance left many bookmakers beginning to cite the Cameroonian club as one of the teams to watch in the tournament even before the selection locked horns with the National Alcohol Factory of Ethiopia late yesterday in its second group game.

The ongoing championship ends on Sunday April 24 with Litto Team and Mayo Kani hoping to secure Cameroon’s first ever winner’s trophy at the end of the championship. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3762 of Thursday April 16, 2026