Chris Musumba
24 July 2007
Nairobi — Kenya watched helplessly as South Africa ran away with the Beijing Olympics berths in both women's and men's competitions after dismissing the hosts and Egypt in the finals of the Africa hockey qualifiers at the City Park Stadium, Nairobi, at the weekend.
While the men's Olympic dream is over, the women still have a chance of qualifying because as silver medallists, they have automatically been entered in the confederation championship which will also be contested by Egypt (men), New Zealand, Chile and Japan.
One of these three countries will host the tournament to be held in February. The week-long competition in Nairobi saw the best of Africa hockey in men and women line up for the honours but it was only South Africa who went home happy after bagging both tickets.
Kenya men's hopes of making a come back to the Olympics after two decades were dashed while the return of Zimbabwe and Namibia to active hockey competition did little to change the continental rankings.
Kenya, whose campaign was disrupted by an allowance dispute, saw the men's team settle for bronze and the women keep their hopes alive.
"This confirms Kenya's long road to the top. The players have the basic skills but are not taking their chances, most because they are not well prepared and have been used to playing on rough surface," said International Hockey Federation instructor Roger Van Gent who was attached to the Kenyan team.
While South Africans are singing all the way home, Egypt will be reflecting on their performance and make a return to Europe for preparations for the next round of qualifiers next year.
Lapses in defence
Egypt's Polish coach Jerzy Jan Wybieralski said that he was disappointed by the performance this being the first loss for his team since the tournament began.
He noted that lapse in defence and luck cost them the ticket to Beijing and will do anything to get the team to the Olympics.
"We did what we could a mid injuries but still failed.
"Now we must sharpen our striking force and put in more effort if we are to win in the confederation competition," he added.
It was sweet revenge for the African champions who had been edged out 1-0 by Egypt during the tournament preliminary round.
Buoyed by their preliminary round victory, the Pharaohs started off strongly taking control of the game in the final as they pinned the South Africans in their own half.
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