© African Hockey Federation
© African Hockey Federation

The Blades see off Namibia to set up Nigeria semis showdown at Hockey Olympic Qualifiers

Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 01.11.23. | 20:32

The Kenyan ambassadors will take on Nigeria in the last four of the qualifiers on Friday

The national women’s hockey team, the Blades, edged out Namibia 1-0 in their final match of pool B at the ongoing Africa Hockey Olympic qualifiers in Pretoria, South Africa on Wednesday afternoon.

Grace Bwire was the heroine as she grabbed the only goal of the game seven minutes to the final whistle in the last quarter to make it three wins in three for the Kenyans who emerged pool B winners with nine points.

The Blades started the qualifiers on a high thrashing their counterparts Zambia 4-0 in the opening match on Sunday before narrowly picking a 3-2 win over Ghana 3-2 on Monday.

The Kenyan ambassadors will take on Nigeria in the last four of the qualifiers on Friday and captain Lyne Kipsang is buoyant they will sail to the finals with a ticket to the Paris Olympics at stake.

“I am happy for this win. It was not an easy one as I felt Namibia were really going hard at us. As we head to the semis, I feel we still need to up our game especially when it comes to penalty corner offense,” said Kipsang in a post-match interview

The men’s team Chui will be looking for a second victory on the trot when they take on Ghana later on Wednesday evening.

After losing 2-0 to hockey giants Egypt in their opening match on Sunday, Chui bounced back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over Zambia the following day.



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The BladesAfrican Hockey Road to Paris 2024

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