THE Zimbabwe national Under-21 women’s hockey team are looking to clinch the final berth at the Junior World Cup in Chile, when they clash with Kenya in their last group match at the Africa Junior Cup in Egypt this afternoon.   Zimbabwe lost to South Africa before they defeated the hosts to keep alive their hopes of qualifying. Four teams are involved in the tournament and the top two will qualify for the World Cup. South Africa, who won their first two matches, have already booked a place at the global showcase. Zimbabwe will be hoping that South Africa defeat Egypt, but crucially, they have to win their own match against Kenya to give themselves the best chance to qualify. They commenced their campaign with a 3-0 defeat by South Africa, but they managed to make a comeback after walloping the hosts 4-0 in their second encounter on Monday. However, it has been a different story for the men’s side, who are yet to win a single match at this tournament after they suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat by South Africa in their opener before they were again outclassed 3-1 by Kenya on Monday. Team coach Prince Mwale, however, said they are looking forward to the next game against Egypt having learnt their lessons from the first two matches. “I think we were unfortunate to lose our first two games, we just could not convert our chances and it made it difficult to win our games. We are obviously a young side and the experience and lack of intense games contributed to our result,” said Mwale. “Egypt is another intense side and we have to work extremely hard. We are making a few adjustments to our tactics and hopefully we will be able to come out with a positive result,” he said. Source: NewsDay Zimbabwe | March 15, 2023

Junior Africa Cup [JAC] 2023 (Men/Women) | Standings after Day 2    

Kenya beat Zimbabwe 3-1 on Monday In Summary • We have more than 50 percent chance to qualify now that the top two teams are guaranteed slots-Malungu. • Kenya on Sunday lost 1-0 to Egypt. National under-21 men’s hockey team must be efficient in attack to stand a chance of beating South Africa on Wednesday in the Junior Africa Cup in Ismailia, Egypt. Kenya beat Zimbabwe 3-1 on Monday courtesy of goals from assistant captain Mathias Golarire, Mathew Momanyi and Job Wandera to revive their hopes of qualifying for the Junior World Cup. Kenya on Sunday lost 1-0 to Egypt. Coach Mike Malungu wants his charges to be also strong defensively in order to deal with their tough to beat opponents. “We just have to convert our chances and play boldly against South Africa. The win on Monday gave us a lifeline therefore we need to build on what we did against Zimbabwe,” Malungu said. “We have to be watertight in defence. Against Egypt, we did not make use of our chances. Had we been efficient in the D, the minimum would have been a draw for us. “ South Africa top the four-team competition with maximum six points from two matches. Kenya, Egypt and Zimbabwe are second, third and fourth respectively according to Malungu. “We have more than 50 percent chance of qualifying now that the top two teams are guaranteed slots. We have a positive goal difference, making our tie with South Africa a do-or-die match. It will boil down to goal difference if we beat South Africa.” Source: the-star.co.ke | March 14, 2023

Junior Africa Cup [JAC] 2023 (Men/Women) | Some Match Scores

Junior Africa Cup [JAC] 2023 (Men/Women) | Matches – Replay matches as featured on Facebook Live:            

The Meshack Senge coached side lost 5-0 in the hands of South Africa • Kock Tamlyn grabbed a brace. • Kenya began the competition on the wrong foot after going down 2-0 against hosts Egypt on Sunday. Kenya under-21 women’s hockey team suffered a second successive defeat in the ongoing Africa Junior Cup in Ismailia, Egypt. The Meshack Senge coached side lost 5-0 in the hands of rampant South Africa in the day two of the competition on Monday. Kock Tamlyn grabbed a brace while the trio of May Kutlwano, Le Roux Mikkela and Coltman Jesquinique scored a goal each to inflict Kenya with the heaviest defeat thus far in the four-day championship. Kenya began the competition on the wrong foot after going down 2-0 against hosts Egypt on Sunday. Kenya will play Zimbabwe on Tuesday in the dead rubber match because they are already out of the Hockey Junior World Cup qualifiers. Source: the-star-co.ke | March 13, 2023

Sunday, March 12, 2023 What you need to know: Winners of the round robin competitions involving Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Zimbabwe will advance to the 2023 FIH Junior Hockey World Cup scheduled for December 5-16 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (men) and December 6-17 in Santiago, Chile (women). It was a bad day in office for Kenyan teams at the Hockey Junior African Cup as they lost their opening matches on Sunday in Ismailia, Egypt. Kenya women’s U-21 hockey team begun their campaign after losing 2-0 against hosts Egypt in Ismailia on Sunday. Coach Meshack Senge’s side, which travelled to Egypt on Saturday night, trailed by two goals at halftime after Solaiman Rowan and Elfatiri Sama scored in the first quarter. Kenya squandered a penalty corner in the fourth minute before falling behind after Rowan gave the home side the lead by converting a penalty corner on seven minutes. Sama put Egypt 2-0 up with a field goal on 12 minutes. The Kenyans showed a lot of improvement in the last three quarters. They put pressure on the hosts, but could not convert the few chances they had due to poor finishing. Back in the tournament for the first time since 2012, Kenya also suffered a blow late in the game when Nichole Odhiambo was sin-binned on 57 minutes. Kenyan ladies will face Zimbabwe in their next match on Monday. Kenyan men succumbed to a solitary goal against Egypt. Coach Michael Malungu’s charges threw away the chance of getting a point after defender Allan Munene blasted a penalty flick in the 48th minute. The East Africans let in an early goal from Adel Ziad after conceding a penalty corner in the first minute and never found the way back into the match. They suffered a blow on 25 minutes when Oscar Kibet picked a yellow card as Egypt went into the halftime break 1-0 up. Egypt, too, were one man down after Taha Saber got yellow-carded at the beginning of the third quarter but again Kibet picked another warning two minutes later. In the tournament’s opening match, South Africa humbled Zimbabwe 3-0 after scoring field goals through Kock Tamlyn, Le Roux Mikkela and Mokoena Ntsopa in the first three quarters respectively. The South Africans could have scored more had they utilised the 11 penalty corners they got. South Africa went into the fixture buoyed by a 100 percent winning record against Zimbabwe. They thrashed Zimbabwe 7-0 on March 24 and 10-0 on March 28 during the 2016 Junior African Cup. Winners of the round robin competitions involving Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and Zimbabwe will advance to the 2023 FIH Junior Hockey World Cup scheduled for December 5-16 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (men) and December 6-17 in Santiago, Chile (women). Source: nation.africa/kenya

The South African U21 Men and Women began their journey to qualify for the FIH Hockey Junior World Cups in December in Ismailia in Egypt on Sunday. Both teams opened their campaigns against Southern African neighbors Zimbabwe. The SA Under 21 Women were looking to continue on the brilliance of the team that finished 7th the 2022 Junior World Cup, facing off against fellow World cup participants Zimbabwe. An exciting opening for both teams but it was largely one way traffic. South Africa won 11 penalty corners to zero for the Zimbabweans, but the South Africans failed to convert any of the 11. Their dominance would count though with field goals by Tamlyn Kock, Mikkela le Roux and internationally capped Ntsopa Mokoena. A 3-0 victory would settle the nerves but with room for improvement there is great excitement for the team in the remainder of the tournament. #JAC2023 pic.twitter.com/wFhZU531aH — African Hockey Federation (AfHF) (@AfrHockey) March 12, 2023 The SA U21 Men saw debutant James Flint bag a hat-trick of penalty corners, reminiscent of what he did to Namibia U18 little under a year ago. There were also goals from Viwe Mbata (A thumping finish into the bottom left), Calvin Davis and Tebogo Maseko as they galloped to a 6-0 victory. #JAC2023 pic.twitter.com/OyQ6WAAKIU — African Hockey Federation (AfHF) (@AfrHockey) March 12, 2023 On Monday, the South African women will take on the Kenyan Women, while the SA Men play the much-anticipated derby battle with Egypt. All games can be seen live on the Egypt Hockey Facebook page here https://web.facebook.com/watch/egyhockey2013/