Abuja 2003: Ghana Open Hockey Account with 2-0 Win over Namibia

The women's National Hockey Team shrug off an initial inertia to beat surprise country Namibia in the opening day of women's hockey at the 8th All Africa Games in Abuja.

The Namibians put up a spirited performance to hold the Ghanaians to a pulsating 0-0 scoreline at half-time. The Ghanaianas were just ordinary on the day and failed to string their passes together and unable to penetrate the Namibian midfield and defense line. It was the Namibians who looked the more likely to score during the half but for some splendid work on the part of libro, Olivia Lartey and the wing halves, the Namibian could have drawn first blood. During the latter part of the first half however, the coaches saw the need to bring on Emilia 'Kuukua' Aggrey to change the face of the attack, and she made an instant impact. She run the defence of the Namibians and gave them lots to worry about until the half ended.

Back from recess, the Ghanaians pushed-off and a swift switch to the right side of attack found Aggrey who took the Namibian defence on a run to earn a penalty corner in the 36th minute. Bea Darko's shot was saved by the goalie but the rebound found the stick of Ramatu Abass who slammed it home for the opener. The Ghanaians never looked back after the goal with Aggrey making all the runs at the defenceline of the Namibians. A move from midfiled was finished up with precision by Abass Ramatu to throw the partisan Ghanaian crowd into a frenzy. The game remained a ding-dong affair till the final whistle for a Ghanaian celebration. The men open their account with a crunchie against neighbours Nigeria at 18:00hrs local time....

In the first match of the day, hosts Nigeria overcame stubborn Zimbabwe with a 1-0 win. The Nigerians had to wait till the dying embers of the game to clinch the winner from open play.

In the much awaited cliff-hanger, South Africa made mince meat of Kenya when they demolished them 9-0 in an almost one sided match. The South Africans deserve tonnes of praises for their near flawless hockey exhibited during the 70 minutes. The tactical play of the South Africans puts them streets ahead of the rest of the continent and makes them the team to beat during the Games. The Kenyans were simply overwhelmed from the blast of the whistle and succumbed to a 0-5 scoreline at half time. The main tormentor was C. Webber who got the first hat-trick of the women's competition, scoring 4 times. The South Africans scored 6 of their goals from penalty corners, 1 from a penalty stroke and 3 from open play