Ghana Women Pick Bronze

... as South Africa Annex Both Olympic Hockey Qualification Spots

Both the men’s and women’s team of South Africa grabbed a ticket for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after winning the African Olympic Qualifier in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday. In the men’s final, South Africa defeated Egypt 2-1 in a pulsating game, while South Africa eased past Kenya 5-0 in the women’s final. The men’s team of South Africa played a great second half in the match against Egypt.

The Egyptians already defeated South Africa in the preliminary round and scored the only goal in the first half of the final. South Africa came back and two goals in the second half were enough to clinch the title and achieve qualification for the Olympic Games.

In the women’s final, South Africa was much too strong for host Kenya. After leading 4-0 at half time, South Africa cruised to a 5-0 victory and qualification for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Egypt and Kenya, both losers of the final of the African Olympic Qualifier, will get another chance to earn an Olympic ticket. The two teams will take part in one of the world qualification tournaments early 2008. The Kenyan women will head for one of the following destinations for the qualifiers between April 12 and May 4, Baku - Azerbaijan, Vancouver-Canada or Kazan- Russia. The Egyptians will seek their qualification at Santiago- Chile, Auckland- New Zealand or Kakamigahara-Japan between February 2 and April 13.

The Ghana men failed to pull off the double bronze feat when they succumbed to an intense Kenyan onslaught in the first half. The team was badly let down form some fundamental goalkeeping errors which put the Kenyans 3-1 ahead in a five minute blitz. The Ghanaians fought very hard but could not pull off the miracle to clinch the bronze. Overall, both Ghanaian teams performed creditably and the level of play improved tremendously from

Results Men’s Hockey African Olympic Qualifier:

Final: South Africa – Egypt 2-1 (0-1)

Bronze medal match: Kenya – Ghana 3-2 (3-2)

Results Women’s Hockey African Olympic Qualifier:

Final: South Africa – Kenya 5-0 (4-0)

Bronze medal match: Ghana – Nigeria 2-1 (2-0)