Australia and New Zealand to play for gold as Ghana settle for tenth place in Gold Coast

    Oceania rivals Australia and New Zealand will play for the women’s hockey gold medals at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games as they both won their respective Semi-Finals tonight. In the first Semi-Final, England, who finished top of Pool A, took on Pool B runners-up New Zealand – the highest scoring team in this event so far, with 18 goals. New Zealand nor their opponents could find the back of the net in this match however, but that did not detract from the fast-paced, action packed encounter that thrilled yet another capacity crowd at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre. While New Zealand goalkeeper Sally Rutherford made a number of crucial saves during regulation time, Grace O’Hanlon entered the cauldron and left a hero, denying England time and time again in the shoot-out. The Black Sticks alternate goalkeeper saved four of England’s shoot-out attempts. New Zealand meanwhile relied on Samantha Harrison and captain Stacey Michelsen to score the two shoot-out goals to win the Semi-Final for the Kiwis and take them to the gold medal match in the Commonwealth Games for the first time since 2010. After their win, New Zealand Head Coach Mark Hager said: “Grace was brilliant, she kept us alive and ignited our players in the shoot-out. I also want to praise Sally who was outstanding and really kept us in the game under huge pressure.” Straight afterwards, Australia’s Hockeyroos qualified for their fourth consecutive gold medal match at the Commonwealth Games. The 2014 champions dominated the majority of this match, and whilst India had their chances, the Hockeyroos got the all-important goal to take them to the final. In the 36th minute, Grace Stewart volleyed home a raised pass from Savannah Fitzpatrick’s in what was one of the best goals of the event so far. Whilst this was a highlight, Hockeyroos Coach Paul Gaudoin will be pleased his team continued their strong defensive duties, with the hosts yet to concede at this event. Earlier in the day, Scotland and Malaysia entertained the fans with a six-goal thriller. The Scots started well, with Millie Brown and an Amy Brodie double giving them a 3-0 half-time lead. Malaysia then battled their way back into the game, with Fatin Sukri then Nuraini Rashid both scoring through penalty corners. Despite the attempted comeback, Scotland’s nerves settled when Lucy Lanigan scored Scotland’s fourth as the game finished 4-2 – a result that saw Scotland finish in seventh and Malaysia eighth. In their debut Commonwealth Games, Ghana took Wales to a shootout in their classification match after the match finished 1-1. Ghana stunned their European opponents as they took the lead through Serwaa Boakye in the 43rd minute. It took just under 10 minutes for Wales to level, through a penalty corner from Tina Evans, which took the game to shoot-out. Sian French and Sarah Jones emerged the heroes for Wales as the only two scorers in the shoot-out, ensuring a ninth place finish for their team, with Ghana ranked 10th. SOURCE : FIH

    GC2018: Hockey Ladies suffer first loss at Gold Coast 2018

      Ghana’s Female Hockey team first appearance at the commonwealth games has been reckoned with both local and international local media houses praising the team. The team beat Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya but lost to South Africa to pick silver in the 2017 African Cup of Nation held in Ismalia, Egypt. New Zealand started their Gold Coast campaign beating Scotland 6 goals to 1. The energy of Madi Doar, Kelsey Smith, Sam Charlton and Shiloh Glyon stumped the camp of Ghana ending the first half 4-0 in New Zealand’s favour after Adampa Janet and Amoako Cecilia got booked. Ghana became vulnerable in the third period after Michelsen Stacey 33′, Merry Olivia 35′ and Harrison Samantha 43′ drove pass the unstable defense to increase the deficit to 7. Azumah Bridget made remarkable saves but wasn’t enough to stop Ghana from conceding more goals. New Zealand Black Sticks stretched the tally in the final period with 5 goals to end the game 12 nil in their favour. 18-year-old Doar impressed the crowd with a hat-trick whiles McLaren Anita bagged her 100th international goal for NZ Blacksticks. Ghana plays host nation, Australia, in their second game tomorrow at 12:30 GMT+10 (2:30 AM).

      GC2018: South Africa suffer first defeat on day 1

        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

        Nigeria slams Burkina Faso for title race

          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/

          Ghana doubles win over Ivory Coast

            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