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.

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.