Khartoum, Sudan, February 01, 2005 - Ghana and the host Sudan started their matches successfully on Tuesday having a straight sets victory over Uganda and Eritrea respectively in the first day of African Group A of the 2006 World Championships held in Khartoum, Sudan.

The Sudanese team supported by enthusiastic 2000 fans in Hashim Diefalla sports hall found it easy to sweep Eritrea 3-0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-13) in the presence of the Minister of Youth and Sports in Sudan, Mr. Hassan Osman Rizig. Khalid Mamour led the hosts by his efficient hits in the first set to lead 8-5 and 16-11, then Eritrea team stopped to score any point to end the set 25-11.

In the second set Bashir Fatharhaman aided Khalid to penetrate the weak Eritrean block ending the second set 25-13. The third set showed a little improvement in the Eritrean team led by Embaue Mussei and Mohamed Moustafa but finally the more experienced Sudanese ended the set 25-13. Sudan Radio station, the media sponsor of the competition gave the match prize to Sudan's libero, Kheiralla Hafiz, the best player.

Ghana appeared in a very good performance beating Uganda 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) in a more competitive match. Winfred Azrekey and Evans Lomotey of Ghana, who were chosen as the best players of the match, led their team efficiently to win the critical points of the match specially in the second set when Uganda came to the match and led several times due to the effective spikes of Yakan Lawrance and Godfrey Lwalanda. Ghana's team showed a good performance enough to compete for the group ticket in the second round.