The South African Hockey men and women teams both secured their spot in the 2024 Paris Olympic games after a weekend of two thrilling matches against Egypt and Nigeria respectively at the University of Pretoria in Tshwane, South Africa, on Sunday.
The SA men’s hockey team beat Egypt 2-1, in a thrilling match with both teams going head-to-head on the court and ending the first half of the game on a knife’s edge, with a 1-1 draw.
The second half was also nail-biting with Matt Guise-Brown’s shot being saved superbly on the line and Gowan Jones also making a save to keep the score level.
Pressure kicked in, in the final 15 minutes of the game which ultimately saw South Africa score a tie-breaker goal. Egypt found the back of the net with 40 seconds left of the game however, a foot in the circle saw the goal disallowed on referral, leaving SA to take the win.
Huge celebrations in the nations capital as the @sawomenshockey and @SA_Hockey mens teams beat #Egypt and #Nigeria respectively at @UPTuks in #Pretoria to earn spots at the #Paris2024 @Olympics #EnRoutetoParis #HockeyInvites pic.twitter.com/i5tFZ8118u
— Mr Bubbles ala Brucey Baby (@bruceybld) November 6, 2023
The South African women’s hockey team also bagged their spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics games after they thrashed Nigeria 9-0 on Sunday night.
The SA ladies scored an effortless 4 goals in the second quarter of the game with Jean-Leigh du Toit netting another from a penalty corner,
South Africa win 2-1 over Egypt! 🚀❤️🇿🇦 What a nerve wrecking game! 🔥#EnrouteToParis pic.twitter.com/HOMp9tpqTH
— Naqua Production Stan ❤️ (@Tebo_Motebejane) November 5, 2023
Things got even better for South Africans as they stormed into half-time with another two goals and ultimately, wrapping up the game with the last goal, completing the tournament without conceding a goal.
Both teams will be joining other South African teams which will be making their way to the Paris Olympic games in 2024 such as the Spar Proteas, the Springbok women’s rugby team and the Protea women’s team respectively.
