Lausanne (Switzerland): The Indoor Africa Cup 2024 came to an end with Namibia men and South Africa women winning gold and securing their spot at the upcoming FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup 2025, which will be played in Porec, Croatia from February 3-9, 2025. With two men’s and two women’s spots available from Africa for the World Cup, South African men and Namibia women also qualified on Sunday for the upcoming premier indoor hockey competition by finishing as the silver medalists at the Indoor Africa Cup.
In the men’s competition South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana competed in the round-robin stage with each team facing the other three once. South Africa won all three matches in this stage to finish top of the standings, followed by hosts Namibia finishing second by winning their games against Zimbabwe and Botswana by comfortable margins.
As the top-2 finishers, South Africa and Namibia headed straight to the final. By their top-2 finish, both teams also qualified for the FIH Men’s Indoor Hockey World Cup Croatia 2025. The two teams had produced a thriller in their round-robin match with South Africa winning out in a tense 5-4 encounter and the finals produced more of the same, according to a release by FIH.
After a goalless first half, the match sprung into action with South Africa scoring two quick goals early in the third quarter. Namibia finished the quarter strongly though, scoring twice in the final two minutes to go level into the final quarter.
South Africa pulled ahead in the final quarter, but once again Namibia had the answer as the regulation period ended with the two teams tied at 3-goals apiece, sending the title match into the shoot-outs.
The teams matched each other through the first phase of the shoot-out, with both sides scoring twice and missing once, sending the contest into sudden death. South Africa blinked first in the nervy moments, and Namibia sealed the win and the title with a 4-3 win in the shoot-outs to become the champions of Africa.
In the women’s competition South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana competed in the round-robin stage with each team facing the other three once. South Africa finished top of the table with 2 wins and a draw.
Namibia had a similar record, but an inferior goal difference saw them finish second. In their head-to-head match, South Africa and Namibia drew the game 1-1 and with both teams headed to the final, a thrilling contest awaited.
By their top-2 finish, both South Africa and Namibia had already qualified for the FIH Women’s Indoor Hockey World Cup Croatia 2025. The bragging rights in Africa were still up for grabs, however, and the final did not disappoint.
In a game of two halves, South Africa were phenomenal in the first, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 3-0 lead into the break. But Namibia came blazing back in the second half scoring 3 goals of their own to send the match into a shoot-out with the score tied at 3-3 at the end of the regulation period.
Both teams missed two attempts and scored one in the first phase of the shoot-out, and the game went into the sudden-death phase. South Africa scored their first attempt, while Namibia missed theirs, making South Africa the champions of indoor hockey in Africa.
–IANS