Lausanne, Switzerland: The African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 games came to an end today with South Africa men and women claiming the gold medals and securing qualification to the Olympic Games Paris 2024! The women’s team were the first to win their gold medal, defeating Nigeria comprehensively by a 9-goal margin in the finals. The South African men’s team faced Egypt in the finals and came away with a narrow 2-1 win to secure their place in the Olympics.
Following South Africa’s victory in the men’s competition, second placed Egypt will now move on to the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 where they will get a second opportunity to qualify for the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
In the women’s competition, South Africa in Pool A and Kenya in Pool B comfortably won all their matches to seal their semi-final berths. Nigeria won their Pool A fixture against Zimbabwe to finish second behind South Africa, while Ghana recorded two wins against Namibia and Zambia to finish second behind Kenya in Pool B.
The semi-finals saw South Africa and Nigeria come out as victors. Nigeria narrowly edged past Kenya, holding on to a 1-goal lead from the 3rd minute of the game until the very end, to win 1-0 in the first semi-final. South Africa dominated the second semi-final, winning 7-0 against Ghana with six different players getting on the scoresheet!
South Africa saved their best performance of the tournament for the last, as they ran riot against a spirited Nigeria side, winning 9-0, with Tarryn Lombard grabbing a hattrick, and six other players scoring a goal apiece. With the win, South Africa sealed their spot in the Olympic Games Paris 2024!
–FIH
