South Africa denied Ghana U-17 female hockey team the opportunity to participate in the Argentina Youth Olympics Games with a 5-2 victory in their fourth game played in Algeria on Monday July 23
The Ghanaians lost their second match 2-3 to Namibia and therefore needed a win against South Africa to book a place in the grand finale but failed to glitter against their bogey side when it mattered most.
It was South Africa who opened the scores early in the fifth minute when Angel Nkosi slotted home a field goal, before Ghana reacted quickly to cancel the lead through Rebecca Donkor.
Three minutes later, South Africa increased the tally through Du Toit Jean-Leah, and continued to pile pressure on Ghana with the quest of unsettling them.
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Their effort paid off in the 11th minute when Angela Welham, who scored a brace in the game, capitalised on a defensive blunder to add her name on the score sheet with a brilliant goal.
Undaunted by the display of talent by South Africa, the Ghanaians redoubled their effort with quick passes and long shots and succeeded in reducing the tally through top striker, Asana Gbatti, who has been on the score sheet in all four matches played.
Moments after the goal, however, the South Africans massed up in the Ghana goal area and scored two quick goals through Angela Welham in the 17th minute and Ramasimong Mathapelo a minute later to deny Ghana the privilege to participate in the October Youth Olympics Games in Argentina .
South Africa, who have won three matches so far, will now play Namibia in the grand finale.
In their fourth game against host nation Algeria on Monday, Namibia won by a cricket score of 13-1, with Zimbabwe defeating Nigeria 4-0.
Today, the national U-17 team will play against Nigeria in the last of the group matches. Notwithstanding the outcome of the match, they will play in the third and fourth place match hoping to win a bronze medal to compensate for the gold medal they missed.