National Hockey teams making inroads in South Africa

The national hockey men’s and women’s teams are making inroads in the ongoing Africa Hockey Championships being held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Both teams  have performed creditably in their matches played so far, indicating that they are on the verge of  picking the sole tickets for the 2017  Olympic games if they continue to display such  high standard performances.

Briefing the Daily Graphic on the matches during a telephone interview, an executive  member of the Ghana Hockey Association, Madam Elizabeth Safoah King said while the women’s team defeated arch rivals, Nigeria 2-1 in their first game, the men accounted for Namibia 5-0 with Jonny Botsio scoring a brace, while Michael Baiden, Salya Nsabini and Eikem Akaba scored a goal each to send a strong signal to the participating teams that Ghana will be a force to be reckoned with so far as the tournament is concerned.

She said in their second game against Namibia, the national women’s team found it tough, but succeeded in ditching them by a lone goal.

According to Madam King, the men’s team however had a field day in their encounter against Botswana as they walloped them 27 -0.

She said the women found their composure in their game against  highly fancied Zimbabwe  by trashing them 4-0, and  in their game against Tanzania, the women had a cricket score by white washing them 12- 0.

The participating teams for the women include Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa, and for the men, Egypt, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Nigeria and Kenya are participating in the Africa Hockey Championship.