SA women’s hockey team secure ticket to Paris Olympics

The SA women booked their spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics when they trounced Nigeria 9-0 in the continental qualifying tournament decider in Pretoria on Sunday.

Tarryn Lombard scored a hat-trick, including the first goal in the first minute of the match, to finish as the top scorer of the tournament with seven.

SA were relentless with wave after wave of attack that overwhelmed the team they had beaten only 4-0 in the group stages.

Lombard scored the second goal in the 14th minute and soon afterwards Jean-Leigh du Toit made it 3-0 and on the 20-minute mark Quanita Bobbs scored with a brilliant reverse strike from the edge on the circle.

The West Africans were done after that and were unable to plug the holes the SA attack bored through the field.

“It means everything to have the ticket to Paris, this is what the girls set out to do and we got the job done today,” said Bobbs, who ended as tied second behind Lombard with six goals. 

“Hopefully, we can get a good programme together in the lead-up to Paris. We have an ambitious group, we have a young, talented group and we need as much time together to compete at the Olympics.

“There’s exciting young players in our team, talented individuals. Every game they bring their strengths and that’s what we want them to do. It’s cool to see that some of them scored today,” she added .

Taheera Augousti and Paris-Gail Isaacs scored in the second half.

“We just encourage them to bring their bravery within our systems,” said Bobbs. “It’s just great to play with them, they keep us on our toes, off and on the field.”