Dakar 2026: Nigeria’s beach volleyball medal hopes end

Nigeria’s women’s beach volleyball medal hopes at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games suffered a setback on Tuesday after Pamela Bawa and Joy Lawrence lost 2-0 to the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

The Nigerian pair went down 21-14, 21-16 to Jara Both and Matilda de Groot, ending their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

The Dutch duo dominated the contest, taking the opening set 21-14 before maintaining their advantage in the second to complete a straight-set victory and book their place in the last four. Both and de Groot, who were seeded second, had not dropped a set before facing Nigeria.

Bawa and Lawrence had reached the quarter-finals after defeating Thailand’s Ainthira Ninsonthi and Phatthanan Wongnongwaeng 2-0 in Monday’s round-of-16 encounter.

The Nigerians won that match 21-16, 21-13 to progress to the last eight but were unable to replicate the performance against the Dutch pair.

• Dumuje-Abili relishes Youth Olympics dream
• African stars fail to match Onaolapo’s Youth Olympics feat
• Youth Olympics: Nigerian swimmers record mixed results in Dakar

Their group-stage campaign featured a 2-1 defeat to Japan, a 2-0 victory over Egypt and a 2-0 loss to Italy before they secured their quarter-final berth with the win over Thailand.

The defeat means the African Under-18 champions will miss out on a place in the medal matches, while Both and de Groot advance to the semi-finals.

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.