The President of the African Hockey Federation (AfHF), Seif El Dine Ahmed, has stepped forward to assure the safety of Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium for all participating countries, following the recent withdrawal of South Africa from the 13th African Games amid concerns by South African officials about the safety and readiness of the venue for the competition. Acknowledging the challenges in venue preparation due to delays by the contractor, Mr Ahmed maintained that after meetings, all participating federations had agreed to proceed with the competition. He expressed gratitude to the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for their dedication to ensuring high-quality hockey in Africa, emphasising the paramount importance of player safety. South Africa’s withdrawal from both the men’s and women’s hockey teams last Monday highlighted concerns over the readiness of Theodosia Okoh Stadium. The South African Olympic governing body, SASOC, cited the unsuitability of the pitches despite repeated assurances of their readiness for international-standard competition. Seif El Dine Ahmed (second from left) addressing the media in the presence of officials of the LOC and Ghana Hockey Federation. While acknowledging international certification rules for qualifying events, Mr Ahmed clarified that the African Games hockey competition did not fall under such qualifications. He pointed out that among the 25 African countries recognised by the Africa Hockey Federation, only South Africa had a certified pitch. However, he expressed optimism that the Theodosia Okoh Hockey pitch would attain certification by October, coinciding with the U-21 African Hockey tournament. “We had challenges to finish the turf in time; it was out of our hands at the African Hockey Federation and LOC. I would like to thank the LOC for trying to bring the best of hockey to Africa, and we consider the safety of all players very important,” Mr Ahmed said at the press briefing in Accra yesterday to address South Africa’s concerns. “With our experience, we can decide whether it was dangerous to play on the turf or not, and already six matches have been played on the turf with no major issues, and the players are enjoying the matches,” he said. For his part, the Executive Chairman of the LOC, Dr Kweku Ofosu-Asare, commended the remaining five participating countries in the hockey tournament for putting up a decent performance so far in hockey. “So far, we are progressing and progressing very well in this tournament (African Games). So far, we have had many medals being handed out and we are looking forward to a successful conclusion of the tournament,” he said.   Source: www.graphic.com.gh | March 20, 2024

Standings and results after 2 days of play | 13th African Games Accra 2023 Countries/Teams Scores Ghana  vs Nigeria(M) (1 – 0) Egypt vs Kenya(M) (3 – 2) Egypt vs Nigeria(M) (5 – 4) Kenya vs Ghana (M) (1 – 3) Ghana vs Kenya(W) (4 – 1) Nigeria vs Ghana(W) (0 -1)      

While the result doesn’t reflect the potential of the Kenyan team, it tells the entire story of what ill preparations can do to the confidence of players. The Kenyan women’s hockey team kicked off the African Games on the wrong footing after falling 4-1 to Ghana at the Theodosia Okoh Stadium on Sunday.  Ordinarily, matches pitting Kenya and Ghana are closely contested but the host capitalized on home advantage to floor the second best team in the continent. Ghana broke the deadlock in the ninth minute through Elizabeth Opoku who has a rich history of scoring in this fixture and against Kenyan clubs in the club championships.  Berko Marvis doubled the advantage for Ghana in the 19th minute, sounding the board from a penalty corner. Vivian Narkuor’a field goal in the 27th minute stretched the advantage to Ghana who had the best possible start in the encounter as by the time the teams went for half time they had a healthy lead. Opoku who doubles up as the skipper sealed her brace and the fourth goal for Ghana in the 33rd minute much to the disappointment of the Kenyan girls who were hoping to work on a possible come back from the third quarter.  Kenya grabbed the consolation goal in the 56th minute through Vivian Onyango who scored from the spot. While the result doesn’t reflect the potential of the Kenyan team, it  tells the entire story of what ill preparations can do to the confidence of players.  The team that arrived a day to the start didn’t play test matches and travelled without important members of the technical bench due to limited funding. Apart from coach Meshack Senge, the only other technical bench member accompanying the team is manager Jane Nyamogo.  Senge’s charges will look to redeem themselves when they play Nigeria on Tuesday. In the absence of South Africa who withdrew, Ghana and Kenya stand a chance of clinching the title. The African champions reportedly cited ill preparations by the host country  and the state of the pitch for their withdrawal. Source: www.michezoafrika.com | March 18, 2024

Ghana got off to a winning start on day one of the men’s hockey competition of the 2023 African Games, with a 1-0 victory over rivals Nigeria, at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium on Sunday. The cagey encounter saw few chances until Damalie Luke broke the deadlock by scoring late to give the Black sticks what proved to be the winner in the dying embers of the game. The hard-fought win hands the host three points and the bragging right over their West African counterpart. “At a point, our game plan changed but we had to keep our cool and prove to them [Nigeria] that we are better than them. Going forward you’ll see better performance from us,” Ghana captain Abbiw Charles told JoySports. Elsewhere, Egypt emerged 3-2 winners over Kenya in a five-goal thriller. Meanwhile in the Women’s category, Ghana demolished Kenya 4-1 in what was an impressive performance. Goals from Berko Mavis, Narkuor Vivian and a brace from captain, Elizabeth Opoku ensured that the Black Stick women started the tournament on a high note. Elizabeth expressed confidence about the team’s chances of winning the competition. “We are taking one match at a time and we need to correct the mistakes we did today and be ready for the next game against Nigeria, whom we have to beat at all cost to make it to the final,” she said. “Our target is the ultimate (first) and I believe we can do it.” Source: www.myjoyonline.com | March 18, 2023

November 5, 2023 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! In the men’s competition, South Africa and Egypt recorded three wins in three to top their respective pools and qualify for the semi-finals. In Pool A, Uganda, Nigeria and Zimbabwe each recorded one win and two losses to finish tied with 3 points, but Uganda joined South Africa in qualifying for the semi-finals, thanks to a superior goal difference. It was more straightforward in Pool B with Ghana winning their two matches outside of the loss to Egypt, to secure their semi-final spot. South Africa and Egypt were the two highest ranked sides entering the tournament and both put in outstanding performances in the semi-finals, securing big wins to make it to the finals. Egypt registered a 9-1 win over Uganda in the first semi-final. South Africa made light work of Ghana in the second semi-final, winning 7-0 to set up a tantalising finals match-up against Egypt. The finals got off to a flying start with South Africa opening the scoring in the first minute of the game, but it took Egypt less than two minutes to get back level. The cagey affair followed for the rest of the game as neither team came particularly close to breaking the tie until Ryan Julius finally got South Africa back ahead in the 51st minute. Egypt tried their best to find the equaliser late on, replacing their keeper with an additional outfield player, but South Africa held on to win and grab Olympic Games Paris 2024 qualification. A total of 12 teams, in each of the men’s and women’s categories, will compete in Hockey at the Olympic Games. Hosts France have gained direct qualification. Australia (men and women) were winners of the Oceania Cup, which sealed their qualification, while Netherlands (men and women) qualified as the European champions. India (men) and China (women) clinched their spots at the Olympics through their gold medal victories at the Asian Games. Argentina (men and women) sealed their spots at the Olympics as winners of the Pan American Games. With South Africa (men and women) qualifying to the games, we now have all 5 direct qualifiers for the games joining the hosts France in the men’s and women’s competition. The FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024, which will be held in January 2024, provide a second opportunity for teams to qualify for the remaining 6 spots at the Olympic Games. Please visit Olympics.Hockey for the latest news and all the information from FIH about the Paris 2024 hockey Olympic tournaments! #EnrouteToParis #HockeyInvites #HockeyEquals For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please consult FIH.hockey, follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and download the Watch.Hockey app.

November 5, 2023 Lausanne, Switzerland: Hockey at Pan American Games 2023 came to an end today with Argentina men and women claiming the gold medals and securing qualification to the Olympic Games Paris 2024! Both the Argentine teams defended their titles from the 2019 edition of the games. The men’s team were the first to win their gold medal, defeating Chile 3-1 in the finals. The women’s team faced USA in the finals and came away with a thrilling 2-1 win to secure their 8th gold medal at the Pan American Games. Following Argentina’s victory in the men’s competition, second placed Chile and third placed Canada 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. Following Argentina’s victory in the women’s competition, USA, Chile and Canada 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 men’s competition, Argentina and Canada went unbeaten in the pool stages securing 3 wins from their 3 contests. In Pool A, Argentina were particularly ruthless, scoring 35 goals and conceding just twice to amass a +33 goal difference from 3 games. Canada faced a much tougher challenge in Pool B, with the game against USA going down to the wire, but Canada came out 2-1 winners to seal their place at the top of Pool B. Chile and USA finished second in Pool A & B respectively with 2 wins apiece, to secure their spot in the semi-finals. Argentina made it to the finals by easing their way past USA with a 2-0 victory, that could have been a much wider margin, but the defending champions could not capitalise on any of their 7 penalty corners in the game. The second semi-final saw Chile upset higher ranked Canada in the shoot-outs, after the teams were tied at 1-1 at the end of regulation time. The finals saw Argentina and Chile meet for the second time in the tournament after their Pool A clash. For the second time it was Argentina who started on the front foot, taking the lead early in the first quarter. Chile managed to equalise at the end of third quarter but Argentina scored twice in the fourth quarter to win gold for the eleventh time and seal their spot at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Canada won the bronze medal match against USA to join Chile in securing a spot in the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024. Tomas Domene who top scored for Argentina at the Pan American Games, speaking after the finals, said: “It’s a dream come true, I am extremely happy. We arrived in Santiago with a goal and we achieved it. This is a group effort, and each of us gave our all to be able to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics today.” In the women’s competition, Argentina and Chile comfortably topped their pools winning all three of their contests. In Pool A, Argentina conceded just one goal in their three games, while scoring 34 of their own. It was similar smooth sailing for Chile in Pool B, where they kept clean sheets in all three of their encounters while scoring 14 goals of their own. USA and Canada finished second in Pool A & B respectively to qualify for the semi-finals as well. Argentina eased past Canada with a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Valentina Raposo, Delfina Thome and Julieta Jankunas. In the second semi-final, hosts Chile were looking like strong favourites and took an early lead in the game, but another upset was on the cards as USA equalised in the final quarter and edged the shoot-out to join Argentina in the finals. The finals was a closely contested affair. Argentina took the lead in the 12th minute via Agustina Gorzelany’s penalty corner goal, but USA struck right at the end of the first half via a penalty stroke converted by Ashley Sessa. Both sides played a cagey second half with scoring chances created few and far between. It was Argentina who took the lead back in the 51st minute via Eugenia Trinchinetti. USA mounted the pressure late on, winning two penalty corners in the final 2 minutes, while Argentina were down to 10 players as Maria Granatto received a yellow card in the 55th minute. But Argentina’s experienced defence held fort and secured the 2-1 victory to earn a record extending 8th gold medal at women’s hockey in the Pan American Games. Chile were the winners of the bronze medal, riding on the back of amazing support from the home crowd to defeat Canada 2-0. Ace drag flicker of the Argentinian team, Agustina Gorzelany, speaking after being crowned the gold medalists at the victory ceremony said: “The truth is I’m super excited. Just talking about it makes my eyes fill with tears. I’m happy, we already have the ticket to Paris 2024. We accomplished our first objective, and I’m already looking forward to the Olympics.” A total of 12 teams, in each of the men’s and women’s categories, will compete in Hockey at the Olympic Games. Hosts France have gained direct qualification. Australia (men and women) were winners of the Oceania Cup, which sealed their qualification, while Netherlands (men and women) qualified as the European champions. India (men) and China (women) clinched their spots at the Olympics through their gold medal victories at the Asian Games. Argentina (men and women) have now sealed their spots at the Olympics, and will be joined later today by the winners of the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 tournament. The FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024, which will be held in January 2024, provide a second opportunity for teams to qualify for the remaining 6 spots at the Olympic Games. Please visit Olympics.Hockey for the latest news and all the information from FIH about the Paris 2024 hockey Olympic tournaments!

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November 6, 2023 Lausanne, Switzerland: Following the conclusion of Hockey at the Pan American Games and the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024, 5 men’s and women’s teams have now gained direct qualification to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as Continental Champions, in addition to the hosts France. A further 16 men’s and women’s teams have simultaneously secured their place at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024, so the pools for these qualification tournaments have now been revealed. The 16 teams per gender have been divided into two groups, with 8 teams traveling to each location: Muscat, Oman and Valencia, Spain for the men, and Ranchi, India, and Valencia, Spain for the women. The 8 men’s teams that will compete in Muscat, Oman are: Great Britain, Germany, New Zealand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Canada, Chile and China The 8 men’s teams that will compete in Valencia, Spain are: Belgium, Spain, Korea, Ireland, Japan, Austria, Egypt and Ukraine The 8 women’s teams that will compete in Ranchi, India are: Germany, India New Zealand, Japan, Chile, United States, Italy and Czech Republic The 8 women’s teams that will compete Valencia, Spain are: Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, Korea, Ireland, Canada, Malaysia and Ukraine The men’s and women’s teams have been divided into the two groups on the basis of their world ranking at midnight on 5 November 2023, once all Continental Championships were completed (based on the predetermined rules mentioned in the FIH Qualification System for the Paris Olympics, which can be accessed here.) The teams that finish in the top-3 of each of the four FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 tournaments will seal their qualification to the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 will be played between 13-21 January 2024. Please visit Olympics.Hockey for more details about the qualifiers, as well as hockey at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. #EnrouteToParis #HockeyEquals #HockeyInvites For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please download the Watch.Hockey app or follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and website.

Lausanne, Switzerland: From 29 October to 5 November, the best men’s and women’s hockey teams from Africa will assemble at Pretoria, South Africa for the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 tournament with the winners joining France (men and women), Australia (men and women), Netherlands (men and women), India (men) and China (women) in securing direct qualification to the Olympic Games Paris 2024. 8 men’s teams and 7 women’s teams will compete at the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024. The 8 men’s teams have been placed into two pools of 4 teams each, while there are 3 teams in Pool A of the women’s event and 4 teams have been placed in Pool B. At the end of the pool stage the two highest ranking teams in each pool will proceed to the semi-finals, while the teams finishing outside the top two positions will compete in 5-8 position classification matches in the men’s event and 5-7 position classification matches in women’s event. The men’s and women’s teams that win the tournament will seal their berths at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. The team that finishes as the runner-up in the men’s competition will get a second opportunity to qualify for the Olympics, at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024. In the women’s competition, Pool A comprises Nigeria, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, while Ghana, Kenya, Namibia and Zambia will compete in Pool B. The women’s matches will get underway on 29 October with Ghana taking on Namibia in the opening contest at 08:00 (local time). All the classification matches, including the medal matches, for the women’s event will be played on 5 November. The complete schedule for the women’s competition can be found here. The South African women’s team have been the consecutive winners of the six previous African Hockey Olympic Qualifiers and come into the tournament as the highest ranked team, placed 21st in the world. Ghana are the second highest ranked African team in the world, coming in at world rank 33. In the men’s competition, Pool A comprises Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Zimbabwe, while Egypt, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia will compete in Pool B. The men’s matches get underway on 29 October with Egypt taking on Kenya in the opening encounter at 12:00 (local time). All the classification matches, including the medal matches, for the men’s event will be played on 5 November. The complete schedule for the men’s competition can be found here. The South African men’s team have been the consecutive winners of the seven previous African Hockey Olympic Qualifiers and come into the tournament as the highest ranked team, placed 14th in the world. Egypt, who were the last men’s team outside of South Africa to qualify for the Olympics, back in 1992, are the second highest ranked African team in the world, coming in at world rank 20th. A total of 12 teams, in each of the men’s and women’s categories, will compete in Hockey at the Olympic Games. Hosts France have gained direct qualification. Australia (men and women) were winners of the Oceania Cup, which sealed their qualification, while Netherlands (men and women) qualified as the European champions. Indian men and Chinese women clinched their spots at the Olympics through their gold medal victories at the Asian Games. Apart from the winners of the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 winners of the continental championships in Pan America will also gain direct qualification to the upcoming Olympic Games. The FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024, which will be held in January 2024, provide a second opportunity for teams to qualify for the remaining 6 spots at the Olympic Games. Please visit Olympics.Hockey for the latest news and all the information from FIH about the Paris 2024 hockey Olympic tournaments! #EnrouteToParis #HockeyInvites #HockeyEquals For more information about FIH and hockey in general, please consult FIH.hockey, follow the FIH social media channels – Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and download the Watch.Hockey app.