Women’s Olympic Qualifiers – Proteas power denies India ticket to London

The honks of the vuvuzelas symbolically overwhelmed the vocal chords of home supporters at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi tonight as Proteas power triumphed over the fighting curry queens in the play off final of the Olympic qualifiers. South Africa won 3-1 after leading 2-0 at the interval and denied the Indian eves a ticket to London.

A field goal by Shelley Russell in the 3^rd minute and penalty corner conversions by South African legend Pietie Coetzee (29^th minute), her 234^th goal in 238 international appearances, and skipper Marsha Marescia (54^th minute) put South Africa on the road to victory. Jaspreet Kaur reduced the margin in the 57^th minute by slotting India’s third penalty corner but it was a tad too late.

South Africa were deserving winners in the sense that they had a few more gilt edged chances to increase their tally but the Indian women played their hearts out in the second half in their hunt for the redeeming goals and were not disgraced in defeat. C R Kumar’s side had another good chance to increase their tally but Anuradha Devi failed to beat the ever alert South Africa custodian Mariette Rix in a one-on-one situation in the 43^rd minute. Otherwise, India only came by half chances as the rival defence held firm.

It was a defensive blunder in the 3^rd minute by yesterday’s Hero-ine Ritu Rani that put the top seeds on the ascendancy after she was dispossessed at the top of the circle by Shelley Russell who then evaded the tackle of birthday girl Sushila Chanu and went on to beat Yogita Bali with a deft push. In the 9^th minute, Sulette Damons could have made it 2-0 but her deflection off a hard hit into the D went wide.

The experienced and unbeaten South African team, with 10 Olympians in their ranks, had won the earlier pool encounter 5-2 and did not look like choking today, a tendency that their men’s cricket team have regularly exhibited in title rounds. Their star performers of the night, Lesle-Ann George, a livewire in the midfield, defender Kate Woods and bustling striker Coetzee ensured just that.

South Africa had already qualified for the Olympics by winning the Continental championship but their Olympic authorities were not convinced about the competition there and wanted them to qualify again from a more demanding pool as this one. And they lived up to the billing with their 17^th win over the Indians.

The inconsistent Indians, who have figured only in one Olympics (1980), had to play their last couple of minutes one short after Anuradha Devi was shown a green card to end up short both on players and goals in the ultimate analysis.