Tanzania ladies Twende continued their poor run in the ongoing Africa hockey Cup of Club Championships after conceding a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Shams of Egypt at Khumalo Stadium in Bulawayo on Monday.
Twende showed a great fighting spirit in their third Pool A tie against Shams, as they sought to bounce back from a false start at the continental showpiece but once again failed to fashion out the much-needed positive result.
It marked a third consecutive defeat for the Tanzanian queens, who had previously lost to Nigeria’s Heartlands Flickers (5-0) and Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) of Zimbabwe (10-0), in games that the country’s envoys produced lacklustre performances.
Twende, who are under the tutelage of Italian coach Valentina Quaranta, were expected back in action yesterday against defending champions Orange Telkom of Kenya.
Orange Telkom confirmed their place in the semifinals of the event, with a resounding 3-0 win over home side BAC at the same venue on Monday.
Two goals from Hellen Chemtai and a further strike from Terry Juma ensured the defending champions moved to six points in Pool A with two clean sheets at the championship.
Speaking to the ‘Daily News’ earlier this week, Tanzania Hockey Association (THA) secretary Kaushik Doshi attributed Twende’s poor form to lack of experience.
“Comprising mostly youngsters who have just been called to the team, the present outfit is different from the one that took part in the World Hockey League in Nairobi, Kenya two months ago,” Doshi said.
The THA boss said it was worth participating in the event as he believes the team gained some international exposure and experiences, which they badly need to improve their standard.
Doshi suggested that Twende’s main undoing was lack of modern facilities that could have put them on the equal footing with their opponents.
“As I always say, it’s difficult to compete with other countries as all of them have modern hockey turfs.” The week-long tournament has brought together teams from Tanzania, Malawi, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and hosts Zimbabwe and will conclude on November 30.
The women’s tourney has attracted 11 teams – Twende, Kenya’s Strathmore, Ghana Revenue Authority, Shams, BAC, Malawi’s Genetrix, Ghana Police, Heartlands Flickers, Egypt’s Sharkia and Orange Telcom.
The African Hockey Federation (AHF) opted to take the tournament back to Bulawayo with Zimbabwe requesting to host the tournament after clubs indicated unwillingness to travel to Nigeria due to the Ebola outbreak.
Zimbabwe hosted the tournament back in December 2012 where Sharkia retained the club championships title in the men’s category, while the women’s section was won by Orange Telkom.
Source Tanzania Daily News