DAY 3 AASC, WOMEN TEAM EVENT SEMIFINAL QUALIFICATION MATCHES
The defending champions in the Women’s Team Event, Egypt went through baptismal of fire in their quest to qualify for the semis and defend the Women’s Team Event title they won in 2020 at AASC in Egypt. Badly needing a win against a resurgent Algerian women’s team seeking to avenge their shock defeat to Uganda, Egypt had the worst of starts. Their star player, three-time Olympic qualifier, and African Champion fell to Halla Bouksani 21-15 21-12. Halla had a point to prove coming back from a devastating loss to Fadilah Shamika. The under 19 All Africa Champion, Nour Ahmed Youssri, fought gallantly to level the score and restore Egypt’s pride against Yasmina Chibah in a closely fought encounter that ended in 21-19 21-17 to set up a mouth-watering clash between Jana Hesham and Tanina Violette Mammeri. Tanina, with nothing to lose since Algeria was looking at elimination, did not waste any time to stamp her authority in the match beating Jana in the first game 21-18. In the second game, Jana capitalized on the unnecessary errors made by Tanina to recover and take the second game 21-16. Tanina came back more composed in the third game, and buoyed by the support of her fellow players, mastered all her strength to beat Jana 21-18 in the third game to give Algeria a 2-1 lead. The 2-1 lead gave Algeria the advantage, and Egypt’s chances of qualifying were hanging in the balance. All Egypt’s hopes were now placed on their first women’s doubles pair of Jana Hesham and Hana Tarek, but the heroics of Linda Mazri and Malak Ouchefon denied them the much-needed win. Jana and Hana went down 21-17 21-18, giving Algeria a 3-1 lead. With all hope almost gone, Egypt was left only with Nour Ahmed and Doha in the final women’s doubles match to salvage their chance to be in the Semis. Mounib Celia and Tanina started well taking the first game 21-16 but Nour and Doha fought back taking the second and third game 21-18 21-17 to ensure Egypt stays in the competition.
South Africa also had to dig deeper to ensure its survival in the tournament, coming down from the loss in the first match in the encounter with Mauritius. Kobita Dookhee had given Mauritius an early lead in the first women’s singles when she beat Laurens 21-14 21-17. Amy Ackerman levelled the score in the second women’s singles match, easily dispatching Lorna Bodha 2-0. Tiya Bhurtun, the thirteen-year-old surprise talent of the tournament, pulled another upset of the tournament, when she snatched Demi Botha’s win right at the tail end of the third game. Demi was leading all through the third game only for Tiya to catch up and take the game 24-22. The doubles pair of the South African women’s team stepped in to save the situation. Amy Ackerman, Laurens Jordan won against the scrap combination of Lorna Bodha and Kobita Dookhee 21-15 21-17 and Demi Botha, Diane Olivier won against Vilina Appiah and Tiya Bhurtun. The 3-2 win in favour of South Africa ensured that Coach Stewart Carson still had his women’s team in the competition.
Uganda cruised through minnows Zimbabwe to also qualify for the Semis in a 5-0 encounter.
The Semi-final matches for the women’s team event will be played in the evening session and will be live streamed on our YouTube channel.
Check out the full results on the link below.
BWF – All Africa Men’s & Women’s Team Championships 2022 – Matches (tournamentsoftware.com)
