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

NAIROBI, July three (Xinhua) — Kenya faces a difficult undertaking beforehand 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 from Aug. 12-18.

The match, with a purpose to be precoded using the African Hockey Federation Congress on Aug. 7, 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 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.

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.

KHU selected the national crew players through trials approach, a move far from random picks by way of the pinnacle instruct. Randiek 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 due to the fact hosts Morocco haven’t any hockey centers. Africa Hockey Federation has given that opted to apply the Olympic qualifiers as their continental games.

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