Sports Revelation Online ..breaking authenic sports reports
Harry Awurumibe, Head, AbujaBureau
High Five… Zambian players congratulating themselves after beating Cameroon today to qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Zambia won 2-1 (4-4 goals aggregate ).
Zambian senior women’s football team, Copper Queens this afternoon in Lusaka did the unexpected by dumping Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Women’s Football event this summer.
Two splendid goals by Mary Mwakapila in the10′ and another by Hellen Mubanga in the 45′ propelled the hard-fighting Zambians to overhaul the Lionesses who came into the return leg with a 3-2 goals advantage.
Infact, Mwakapila, Mubanga and skipper Barbra Banda who was truly leading from the front, tore part the Cameroon defence as the midfielder supplied all the goals that made the difference.
Although Cameroon’s talismanic goalpoacher, Ajara Njoya Nchout grabbed a late goal in the 90+3′ to put the final scores at 4-4 but Zambian still picked the only Africa’s full ticket to Tokyo Olympics on the strength of scoring two goals in Yaounde when Cameroon hosted the first leg last week in Yaounde. It is Zambia’s first-ever qualification for the Olympics.
By this feat, Zambia has become only the 5th African nation to qualify for the global multi sports showpiece even as Nigeria is the only country in Africa to represent Africa in three Olympic Games in Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Meanwhil, Cameroon will have another chance of fighting for Africa’s half ticket against a Latin American nation, Chile later in the year as the winner of the Play-off will still qualify for Tokyo Olympics.