Hurting Otieno blames poor preparations for teamscapitulation

The national women hockey head coach Wilson Otieno has blamed lack of proper preparations for the catastrophic performances by men and women teams in the just completed Africa Cup of Nations Hockey Championships in Ismailia, Egypt.

The Kenyan ladies narrowly missed out the third place after going down 2-1 on penalties, after 3-3 draw with Nigeria in regular time, thus finishing fourth, behind Nigeria.

“Our preparation for these tournaments was not the best. We didn’t play any tough build up matches that might have helped us to unearth our weaknesses and unfortunately these weaknesses were exposed when we met tougher opposition in the champion,” Otieno lamented.

Both men and women team travelled for 24 hours; arriving just a day before the championships began meaning they didn’t have rest before the games commenced.

Caption 2(HOCKEY TWO)- Allan Iningu of team Kenya during morning training session at City Park stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on October 08, 2017. Kenya Hockey Union named both the men and women national teams to the Africa cup of nations in Egypt in October 2017. Photo/Oliver Ananda/Sportpicha

Otieno also revealed that they have not had any international face-off this year which he believes played a great deal in his charges’ poor performance in the continental championship.

“The last time we played in a major tournament was in October last year in Accra against Ghana,” he added. “We can’t thus compare ourselves with South Africa who has been playing quality friendlies.”

The South Africans thumped Kenya 5-0 to the 2017 crowned champions.

Calvince Kanu (L) and Constance Wakhura of Kenya hockey team trains at City Park stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on October 08, 2017. Kenya Hockey Union named both the men and women national teams to the Africa cup of nations in Egypt in October 2017. Photo/sportpicha.
Calvince Kanu (L) and Constance Wakhura of Kenya hockey team trains at City Park stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on October 08, 2017. Kenya Hockey Union named both the men and women national teams to the Africa cup of nations in Egypt in October 2017. Photo/sportpicha.

On the other hand, despite taking the lead against Ghana on Saturday, the Kenya men’s team went down 5-3 to their opponent at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia, finishing fourth behind the West Africans.

Mishack Senge’s side played five encounters registering four losses; falling 3-0 against Ghana, 4-1 against Egypt and a 6-1 humiliation in the hands of the reigning champions South Africa.

Tags:

south africa Ghana Egypt Ismailia Africa Cup of Nations Hockey Championships Wilson Otieno

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