Sports Monthly

SA steals the show as Kenya misses out of the Olympics

For the second time this year, Nairobi was the convergence zone for the African hockey; first hosting the Club Championships in February and later the Crown Berger Africa Olympic Qualifiers in July. On both occasions, hockey lovers, who had been starved of quality hockey, trooped to City Park in large numbers to cheer their teams and also to watch Africa’s best.

The qualifiers paraded eight nations: Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana, which fielded both men’s and women’s, teams. Others were Uganda, Egypt (men), Zimbabwe and Namibia (women). It also brought together some leading hockey personalities including the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) President Els Breda Vriesman, African Hockey Federation President Seif Ahmed and Thomas Kille from TK Hockey Equipment, the leading manufacturer of the sport’s equipment in the world.

South Africa will send both the men and women’s teams to the Beijing Olympics after they vanquished all opposition. The only dent to their pride was their 0-1 loss to Egypt in the preliminaries. However, they hastily corrected their mistakes just in time to turn the applecart against the North Africans in the final. They won 2-1 to clinch a ticket to next year’s Olympics.

The South African women scored 46 out of the 78 goals scored in their pool with Kate Hector (8 goals), Henna DuBuisson and Sharne Bailey (7 goals each) emerging as the top scorers.

The Kenyan women displayed mediocrity both on and off the pitch. They portrayed a negative image and attitude, and literally, threw out the tournament when they staged a sit-in at City Park before their opponents on the eve of the start of the tournament, demanding the national governing body pays their allowances, before they could take the pitch.

As they washed their dirty linen in public, their rivals were busy training.

Though they finished runners up, the ladies failed to make use of the home ground advantage and the unstinting crowd support to whitewash their opponents. Coach Mike Omondi must go back to the drawing board and assemble a young team that has the stamina and the flexibility to run around the field like some of their opponents who though not so technically endowed, exhibited absolute fitness.
Kenya men’s team lost 2-1 to South Africa, their only loss in the tournament; while against Egypt they forced a 0-0 draw. With tow professionals Cliff Odendo (Italy), goalkeeper Clement Omany (Australia) on call and Dutchman Roger van Ghent sitting on the technical bench as a consultant managed a bronze medal.

Uganda were the whipping boys of the tournament. They conceded 20 goals to South Africa while against Egypt they let in 18 goals. However, this might have been a blessing in disguise as the world body has promised to finance their hockey programme if only to reward them for their spirit and dedication.

Any men’s team that wants to go far in hockey must go the Egyptian and South African way; technical skills and physical endowment. For the women, it appears, the smaller they come the better they play, if the diminutive physiques of South Africans Marsha Marescia (captain) and the Ryan sisters, Vida and Vidette were anything to go by

There is all indication that hockey in Kenya is on the upsurge. The decision by the FIH to make Nairobi the center of the game in the continent appears to have been a well thought out one.

“I have been to Nairobi as a player, an official and now as the President of the African Hockey federation and I am happy to say that the decision to make this city the center of hockey in the region was a wise one,” said Seif Ahmed.

“Its central location, superb infrastructure and facilities as well as the friendly and disciplined spectators are some of the strong points that will see the game of hockey evolve in the region to unprecedented heights.”