Orange reach semis: Champs to meet Tanzanian rivals as Strathmore take on Gentrix

Christabel Moraa of Strathmore Scorpions runs with the ball pursued by Sharkia's captain Sara Ahmed during their Africa Cup of Clubs championship match in Bulawayo. [PHOTO: ELIZABETH MBURUGU/STANDARD]

Africa Hockey Cup of Clubs defending champions Orange Telkom yesterday beat hosts Bulawayo Athletics Club (BAC) 3-0 to progress through to the semi finals stage.

Today Orange will take on Twende of Tanzania in their third pool A tie at Khumalo Hockey Stadium here in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

On the other hand Strathmore University, who are eyeing their maiden continental trophy, will engage Gentrix of Malawi who are hunting their first victory of the tournament.

The Malawian ladies suffered a humiliating 16-0 loss against tournament’s top side Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in their opening match.

Orange coach Jos Openda told Feverpitch his team is focused and they are determined to retain the title on a clean sheet.

“We wanted to defend the title without conceding a goal in Kampala, Uganda, but failed. But we still have high hopes of doing just that in this event,” he said.

In another ladies encounter, hosts Bulawayo Athletics Club (BAC) will play three-time champions Heartlands of Nigeria. BAC did not disappoint their home fans as they clobbered Twende of Tanzania 10-0 in the opener.

In the men’s category, champions Egypt Police will take on rivals and fellow countrymen Sharkia in what seems like a repeat of the last tournament finals.

Eyeing Revenge

Police dethroned Sharkia with a 2-1 victory at the finals in Kampala but the 22-time champions Sharkia are determined to secure their revenge and put their campaign to reclaim the title back on course.

Sharkia captain Amrou Mohamed said they were in Bulawayo to salvage their title. He, however, cautioned that they will be playing with caution just like was the case in Kampala where they missed the services of some key players. Mohamed said the dent took toll on their confidence and affected their performance.

“We missed eight players, who were banned. We have beefed up our squad and three of the eight are back now. We are here to repossess our title.”

The Zimbabwe derby will see Hippo Valley battle it out with countrymen Eradicators in another men’s round-robin encounter.

The home teams have failed to shine, falling to the visitors with the best performance being a 3-3 draw for Hippo Valley against Trustees of Ghana.

Hard target

Police Machines of Ghana will be on a mission to arrest Ghanaian Insurers Trustees.

The African Hockey Federation (AHF) opted to take the tournament back to Bulawayo with Zimbabwe making the request to host the tournament after clubs indicated unwillingness to travel to Nigeria due to the Ebola outbreak.

Zimbabwe hosted the tournament back in December 2012 where Sharkia of Egypt retained the club championships title in the men’s category while the women’s section was won by Orange Telkom.

Hockey Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) vice-president Humphrey Chigwedere confirmed AHF had approached Zimbabwe to host the 2014 tourney.

“The Africa Hockey Cup of Clubs championships is back to Bulawayo and we are ready for it.”

“Nigeria was supposed to host this year’s edition, but countries were not willing to travel to the West African nation because of Ebola and the African Hockey Federation asked us if we were interested in hosting the tournament,” said Chigwedere.

The week-long tournament has brought together teams from Tanzania, Malawi, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and hosts Zimbabwe and wqill conclude on November 30. The women’s tourney has attracted 11 teams - Twende of Tanzania, Strathmore, Ghana Revenue Authority, Shams of Egypt, Zimbabwe’s Bac. Others are Malawi’s Genetrix, Ghana Police, Nigeria’s Heartlands Flickers, Egypt’s Sharkia, and Kenya’s Orange.