Fifty caps for Sam as Olympics call
REGIONAL - Knysna and Plett local Sam Mvimbi last week not only secured a spot at the 2024 Paris Olympics for himself and the SA men's hockey side, but also reached the personal milestone of 50 caps for his country. He reached the mark in the final of the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 qualifier tournament, making it all the more special.
South Africa met Egypt in the final of the African qualifier tournament for the Olympics, which was played in Pretoria from 29 October to 5 November. The two nations have faced off in every single African Olympic qualifier final this millennium, and Egypt has had the upper hand of late. Egypt was victorious on the two previous meetings between the two countries at the Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia, so would have fancied their chances of causing an upset for the home crowd.
It was an expectedly tense final and matters were close right up to the final whistle, with South Africa barely holding on for a hard-fought 2-1 win. This sees them automatically qualify for next year's Olympics, along with the women's team, while Egypt will try to secure one of the six remaining Olympic spots available at the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024.
While a marked achievement for his team and his country, the final bore a special kind of personal significance for Sam Mvimbi.
It was his 50th appearance for his country and it was a tough outing, he recalls. "Egypt is a very experienced side, they've been together for a long time, and they definitely used that over us," he said. "But we just made sure we stayed focused on ourselves and what we wanted to achieve out of the tournament."
It was also the first time Mvimbi took on Egypt. "I'd heard a lot of stories from the guys about how tough Egypt is to face; playing against them is always difficult. As we expected it was a very hard game, and I'm just glad that we got out of it with the W and with a ticket to Paris."
Mvimbi is already looking forward to the next step in the process and has sharply shifted his focus to whatever lies in wait for him and his side in the near future.