Hockey: Winners devour hosts Wanainchi to renew hopes of advancing

By ELIZABETH MBURUGU

Nairobi Simba earned their first victory of the ongoing Africa Hockey Club Championships at the Lugogo national hockey stadium in Kampala.

They beat Hosts Wanainchi 3-1 to gain three vital points.

 Simba Coach Inderjit Matharu told FeverPitch the victory had revived their hopes of winning the title.

“We still have a chance to proceed to the semis and even make it to the finals. Our win today has revived our hopes of scooping top honours,” he said.

Simba have a tough task ahead as they have to beat defending champions Sharkia of Egypt to make it to the semi-finals.

“We have to win against Sharkia and we know it will not be an easy match; we will give it our best,” he added.

determined to win

Simba went into the game determined to win and displayed good hockey attacking and defending. Their efforts paid off in the 25th minute when Asif Shah converted a penalty corner taken by George Mutira.

They surged on looking for more goals but failed to break the Ugandan defence.

Davis Wanangwe could have put the Kenyans two up in the 31st minute but Wanainchi goalkeeper Alex Adema saved the day.

Simba went into the breather having an upper hand. Coming into the second half they held on to the lead making amends for the mistake they made against Golden Sticks of Ghana when they squandered a 2-0 halftime lead.

Barnabas Odhiambo put Simba two up in the 43rd minute scoring superb field goals that boost their winning morale.

Consolation goal

Jaspreet Kalsi made it three in the 61st minute to seal the victory for Simba while Wanainchi’s consolation goal was scored in the 68th minute by Captain Derrick Akuwa.

Hosts Uganda won their first match of tournament through Weatherheads 1-0 victory over Twende of Tanzania.                                

Tanzania fielding the team that played in the Cup of Nations put up a hard fight proving that they indeed learnt from their debut in international hockey.

They dominated all aspects of the game but failed to score goals. Twende coach and player Valentina Quantara admitted they should not have lost the match following many scoring opportunities they lost.

 “We should have done better. We wasted scoring chances, Weatherheads had two chances and utilised one,” she said. They face champs Orange in day six of the tournament.

Defending champions Sharkia of Egypt extended their winning dominance thumping Yobe Warriors of Nigeria 4-1.                                                          Mahmoud Farouk scored two goals in the 15th and 17th while Mohamed Sameer scored in the 40th and 51st minute to seal the victory.

Yobe’s lone goal was scored in the 19th minute by Almanji Nayola.

–emburugu@standardmedia.co.ke