Kenya faces seven nations in hunt for hockey price ticket at Africa Olympic qualifiers

NAIROBI, July three (Xinhua) — Kenya faces a difficult undertaking to return to the Olympic Games in hockey because it comes up in opposition to seven other groups within the Africa qualifiers, to be held in South Africa Aug. 12-18.

With a purpose to be precoded using the African Hockey Federation Congress on Aug. 7, the match will see Kenya tackle giants and host South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Namibia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Egypt for the single price tag to the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. Dubbed the African Hockey Road to Tokyo 2020, Kenyan groups are buoyant approximately their probabilities navigate via the qualifiers to make the very last, to see their return to the games for the first time in over decades.

Kenya, which overlooked out to play at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, is bent on making a look at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) president Nashon Randiek is optimistic one of the national teams will excel. “The Africa qualifier gives us the hazard to seal the Olympic price tag, and we should make the most and grasp the hazard. Kenya has proficient gamers, and the Africa qualifiers have a number of the best teams within the continent, which makes it an aggressive championship,” stated Randiek on Wednesday.

KHU selected the national crew players through a trials approach, a move far from random picks through the pinnacle instruct. Randie feels the crew is substantial and could weather the hurricane in South Africa. Hockey will not be a part of the Africa Games in Morocco from Aug. 19-30 because hosts Morocco haven’t any hockey centers. Africa Hockey Federation has given opted to apply the Olympic qualifiers as their continental games.

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