South Africa

By Karien Jonckheere

There's still work to be done, but the coach of the national men's hockey side, Paul Revington, is confident that his team has what it takes to claim the All Africa Games title next month.

The South African squad who will play at the continental competition in Nigeria met on Friday for a week's training prior to their departure this Sunday.

"I'll probably get a better picture by the end of the week but I am happy with what I've seen so far. Everyone is starting to understand where we're going," said Revington.

The squad played their first warm-up game last night.
The side that will play in Nigeria took on a side made up of a mix of Gauteng players and part of the team who will be playing at the Afro-Asian Games in India directly after the All Africa Games.

"Everyone is excited. They just want to get there and play these games now," said Revington, who added that the two weeks the SA team spent together at the recent Champions Challenge in Randburg greatly helped the side's preparation - "especially in terms of team dynamics".


The South Africans claimed the bronze medal at that tournament against some of the tougher teams in world hockey, so strengthening their hopes of coming out top in Africa and claiming automatic qualification for next year's Olympic Games.

With the Olympics in mind, the SA side will be putting everything into their final preparations before heading to Abuja on Sunday.

While the Egyptians will undoubtedly be South Africa's biggest threat, strong challenges could come from Zimbabwe and the Kenyans.

At the last games held in 1999 in Johannesburg, South Africa dominated in the hockey, winning gold in both the men's and women's competitions.

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