The Spar South African women’s national hockey team seem to be the only team flying South Africa’s sporting flag high after a few codes disappointed the nation in recently.
The team returned this week from a four-nations tournament in Athens with gold medals. They beat Britain 3-1, Spain 1-0 and Australia 4-3 to win. The team will be returning to Athens in a few months, this time to fight for Olympic gold.
The team’s performance and pre-parations for the Olympics have so far been great. Last month they beat Spain 3-1 to win a Test series in country and they are currently playing Australia in a four-day Test series.
The team, who were hoping to continue their winning streak against Australia, received a rude awakening on Wednesday. The Australian team, known as the hockeyroos, took revenge for their 4-3 defeat by beating the South Africans 2-1 at the Randburg Astro hockey ground.
Their next games are on Thursday and Friday at the Pretoria Technikon, and their last is on Sunday in Randburg.
The Australian team, the current Olympic champions who are ranked number two in the world, have come to South Africa to salvage some pride and boost morale before Athens in June.
Men’s team in dire straits
While the women’s hockey team is giving great performances, the men’s team is in dire straits. They have yet to qualify for the Olympics and there are only a few weeks remaining before the Olympic qualifying tournament in Madrid, Spain next month.
The men’s team need to win the tournament in order to qualify for Athens. If they fail they will kick themselves, as many of the senior players may never get another chance to represent their country in the Olympics. They were refused entry to the 2000 games for political reasons.
The men’s team did not perform very well against The Netherlands, Germany and Canada recently. This week they play a three- game Test series against Canada, who will also be involved in the qualifying tournament in Madrid. The last time South Africa played Canada they lost.