The ongoing African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 qualifiers are proving to be a formidable challenge for the senior national women’s hockey team.
The championship, which serves as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, is currently taking place in Pretoria, South Africa.
Namibia is competing in the women’s category and features seven women’s teams divided into Pools A and B. The overall winner will secure a slot for the Olympic Games as an African representative.
Namibia finds itself in Pool B alongside Zambia, Kenya and Ghana.
In their opening match at the competition, the Namibian team suffered a 1-2 defeat against Ghana on Sunday. Their subsequent match was against Zambia on Monday, when they faced another loss, this time with a score of 2-3.
In their match against Zambia on Monday, the Zambians opened the scoring in the first quarter through Martha Kalomo, who put her team ahead just eight minutes into the match, ending the quarter with a score of 0-1 in favour of Zambia.
During the second quarter, both teams were unable to score.
However, Carol Nakombe scored a goal in the 36th minute, extending Zambia’s lead to 2-0 in the third quarter. Namibia then found their footing through Tisha Semedo, who scored in the 37th minute, followed by Adoré Meyer, who equalised in the fourth quarter, bringing the score to 2-2 in the 47th minute.
Christine Kaluba then scored for Zambia in the 50th minute, securing the win for her team.
After two games in the championship, Namibia currently occupies the bottom position in Pool B with zero points from two matches played. Kenya is leading the pool with three points from one game, while Ghana and Zambia are in second and third place, respectively. – Nampa