Hockey: Nigeria beat Kenya to set up South Africa final

Nigeria Women’s Hockey National team; the Jinking Damsels on Friday produced another resilient display to beat Kenya 1-0 in the semi-final of the African Hockey Road to Paris taking place in Pretoria, South Africa, www.aclsports.com reports.

The Nigerian Ladies made a worst possible start to the tournament in a 4-0 defeat to host nation South Africa earlier in the week but bounced back spectacularly culminating in this sweet win over the Kenyans to book a place in the final.

Benedicta Johnson scored the all important goal for Nigeria in the 3rd minute of play, taking advantage of a short penalty corner before the Nigerian girls then put up another defensive masterclass to see out the entire durations of the game.

Kenya can point to their large share of possession which was over 60% and their inability to convert any of the three short corners they were awarded in the first half but credit must be given to the Nigerian defence and goalkeeper Martha Uko who once again frustrated their opponents.

Nigeria, 4th in Africa and 36th in the World went into the semi-final with Kenya – ranked 30th in the world and 2nd in Africa – having amassed three points from their two group games, losing to South Africa as aforementioned before beating Zimbabwe to advance.

Friday’s win was a sweet revenge for Nigeria who had lost to Kenya 1-2 at the 2022 Hockey African Nations Cup in Accra, Ghana.

In a repeat of their opening group game, Nigeria’s Jinking Damsels will now face Africa’s highest ranked side South Africa in Saturday’s final at the University of Pretoria in Johannesburg. The hosts trounced Ghana 7-0 in Friday’s other semi-final game.

The eventual champions will automatically qualify for the Women’s Hockey event of the Paris 2024 Olympics but the beaten finalist will still have another chance to qualify for the Olympics at the FIH Olympics qualifiers in January, 2024.