Wales held hockey giants Pakistan to a draw whilst South Africa were stunned 4-2 by Scotland in the opening day of the men’s hockey competition at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. Following the women’s matches earlier in the day, thousands of fans continued to turn out to support the men’s teams at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre. Wales, ranked 24th in the FIH Hero World Rankings, have every right to be proud of their draw against 13th ranked Pakistan. Taking inspiration from their women’s win against India earlier in the day, Wales were tough in their tackles and composed in possession – penetrating their opponents circle more often than Pakistan entered theirs throughout the match. And it was Wales who took the lead in open play, after 33 minutes, through Rupert Shipperley. That did not last long however as, six minutes later, Pakistan levelled the match through an Ali Mubashar penalty corner. After the two goals, both teams cancelled each other out across the field, with no other shots at goal or penalty corners conceded for the remainder of the game. Despite riding their luck on occasion, Wales did more than enough to justify their share of the spoils and record what some believe to be one of their best men’s results in their history. Pakistan meanwhile will rue dropped points against a team they would have hoped to beat. The last match of the day saw African champions South Africa come up against a Scottish side buzzing with energy and passion. The Blue Sticks raced into a 3-0 lead by the end of the first quarter – all goals through open play. The highlight was the second goal when a neat ball was slipped through two South African defenders to find Kenneth Bain who fired a beautiful back stick strike high into the roof of the net. Alan Forsyth followed that up in the 13th minute as he smashed home a goal at the back post after South Africa failed to clear the danger. Scotland’s energy continued into the second quarter, their confidence allowing them to spread the ball around the field – a fact reflected by statistics showing they had 89% of possession in the match. It was however South Africa who got on the scoresheet next as Gareth Heyns scored from a penalty corner. Their captain, Tim Drummond, then brought the score back to 3-2 through a fantastic diving shot after a pass was edged through the entire Scottish defence. Although their fans may have feared a typical Scottish collapse, the Blue Sticks held on and Kenneth Bain squeezed in his second goal of the night to guarantee a hugely important win both in terms of points and for confidence. Results Pool A: South Africa 2, Scotland 4. Pool B: Pakistan 1, Wales 1. #GC2018Hockey fih.ch

March 26, 2018 Ghana and Nigeria recorded massive wins on Match Day 3 to book a place in the finals of their respective finals. Nigeria’s boys team beat Burkina Faso to set up an epic finals against host Ghana. Ghana’s girls team beat Togo to also book their place in the final. The girls started match day 3 with Ghana facing Togo. The girls from Togo set out to revenge the heavy defeat they suffered at the hands of their neighbours on match day one. The game started with Ghana dominating as usual but the girls from Togo also played well. The Ghanaian girls were frustrated in the early minutes as they failed to score Togo. Good team play from Togo attracted applauds from spectators and dignitaries present. Their moment of doom came in the 5th minute when Ghana’s Gifty Addae put the host in front with a cheeky lob over Tchagbele Aidatou in post for Togo. The floodgates were then opened as the host scored 7 goals in succession. Togo managed to pull one back but that was not enough as they succumbed to a 8-1 defeat. The win puts Ghana top of the group an a place in the final. With just two teams available for the girls division means Togo meets Ghana again in “The third world war”. Nigeria also booked their place in the boys final with a win over Burkina Faso. The green lads once again produced another great performance. Four goals in the first session, three in the second and two in the final session was enough to send them to the grand final. Burkina Faso unfortunately had to end the game with two key players injured. Source: http://isports360.com/

March 25, 2018 Match day two of the ongoing West Africa Hockey 5s ended with massive wins for Ghana and Nigeria who trashed Ivory coast and Togo. Ghana played host to their counterparts from Ivory Coast in the first match of the day. Both teams had to play another game because a third opponent was unavailable. The Ghanaian side put up another splendid performance to book a place in the finals. The host dictated the pace of the game as they controlled every department. The Ivorians showed brilliant team play; a performance many saw as an improvement of their game yesterday. However, the expected happened as Ghana won the game beating ivory coast by 13-0. The final game of the day was between Nigeria and Togo. The boys in green were playing their first game of the tournament after a late arrival. Togo who brushed aside Burkina Faso by 11-2 in their first game were in high spirit approaching this game. Mustapha Bala put Nigeria in-front as early as the 5th minute. Daniel Attah scored five goals (8th, 13th, 20th, 22nd and 26th min) with Abdul Aziz Yusif (14th min), Baccas Benjamin (24th min) and Peter John (24th min) getting a goal each for Nigeria. Agbessi Kokou pulled one back for Togo in the 13th minute but time ran out as Nigeria won 9-1. Source: http://isports360.com

March 25, 2018 The first edition of the West Africa hockey 5s commenced at the Theodosia Okoh hockey stadium, yesterday, with wins for host nation Ghana. The tournament seeks to promote youth hockey in West Africa as well as a preparatory grounds for the youth Olympic qualifier in Algeria later this year. Five countries represented with 5 male teams and 3 female teams. The opening game of the tournament yesterday saw Ghana’s female team engage their counterparts from Togo. The Togolese made its first appearance in any hockey tournament started on a more determined note. Their hopes were however, cut short in the 3rd minute when Okine Rafiatu put Ghana in front. the 1st session ended with Ghana 4-0 up. The Togolese came up strong in the second and final session but all efforts proved futile as they were beaten 11-0. Speaking after the game, Togo Female’s coach Kesse Komlan said, “we played with an opponent who has been playing hockey for decades, and we are so proud of how we performed. We are putting things in place and hopefully no team will be able to match us years to come”. In the boys division, Togo got the best of Burkina Faso beating them by 11-2. it was a game between two debutants as both teams made their way into the hockey fraternity for the first time. Togo showed dominance from the start of the game controlling every part of the turf. Their dominance was turned into goals as they scored six at the end of the second session to put the game beyond Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso gained experience from the first two session and played extremely well in the final session. They manged to score two goals with Togo bagging in five more goals. Host nation Ghana engaged counterparts Ivorian in the final game of the day. The boys from Ghana were enthused and eager to do better than their girls. The match started with the host dictating pace with three goals in the first three minutes. Ghana were 7-0 up after the first session. A resilient Ivorian side pulled one back in the second session but Ghana grabbed two more goals to increase their tally before the end of the second session. The Ghanaian side rounded up their scintillating win with six more goals in the final session ending the game 15-1 in favor of Ghana.   Source: http://isports360.com