At first, it looked as if the Mozambicans were coasting to an easy victory – at the end of the first half, they were 14 points in the lead.
But the Algerians fought back in the second half, and moments from the end a foul committed by Mozambican player Anabela Cossa allowed Algeria to take the lead by 67 points to 66.
But almost immediately Cossa herself suffered a foul which gave her the right to take two free throws. She put both of them in the basket, and the final result was 68 points to Mozambique, 67 to Algeria.
This was the Mozambican team’s fourth consecutive victory, after beating Zimbabwe (73-37), the Democratic Republic of Congo (67-53) and Nigeria (52-44). Mozambique is the only undefeated team in Group A, and has already won a place in the semi-finals.
In the other group A matches on Tuesday, Nigeria beat Kenya (63-61), and Zimbabwe beat DR Congo (also by 63-61). On Wednesday, Mozambique meets Kenya in the final Group A match.
In Group B, the Angolan team is enjoying the same success as the Mozambicans, with an unbroken string of victories. On Tuesday, the Angolans beat Cameroon by 68 to 39. In the two other Group B matches, Mali beat Rwanda (62-59), and Senegal beat Ivory Coast (78-36).
In volleyball, Mozambique was unsuccessful, with both the men’s and the women’s teams going down to defeat. In the women’s event Botswana beat Mozambique by three sets to none.
In the other women’s volleyball games played on Tuesday, Senegal beat Seychelles (3-2), Kenya beat Cameroon (3-1), and Algeria beat Nigeria (3-1).
In the two men’s matches, Nigeria beat Mozambique (3-0), and South Africa beat Seychelles (3-0).
The Mozambican table tennis team played two matches on Tuesday and lost both of them. Both Mauritius and Uganda beat Mozambique by three sets to one.
In the only netball match played on Tuesday, South Africa beat Botswana by 36 points to 34.
South Africa also met Botswana on the badminton court, and scored a crushing 5-0 victory. Nigeria beat Kenya by the same margin, and Mauritius also enjoyed a 5-0 victory over Egypt. In the fourth badminton game of Tuesday, Ethiopia beat Congo by 4-1.
South Africa continued to dominate the swimming events. South African swimmers took four gold, three silver and five bronze medals on Tuesday, bringing their total number of swimming medals to 23.
In the 50 metre men’s breaststroke, the world record holder, Cameron van der Burgh, took the gold in 27.81 seconds. Malick Fall of Senegal and Nabil Kebbab of Algeria were in second and third places.
In the 100 metres men’s butterfly, Jason Dunford of Kenya won a narrow victory over South African Chad le Clos. The Kenyan’s time was 52.13 seconds, fractionally ahead of Le Clos on 52.17 seconds. Another South African, Neil Watson, came third in 55.14 seconds.
A short while later, Le Clos was back in the pool for the men’s 400 metre individual medley, which he won in a time of 4:16.88. Taki Mrabet of Tunisia took the silver in 4:21.88, and the bronze went to South African Riaan Schoeman in 4:25.32.
In the women’s events, South Africa’s Karin Prinsloo, who won three gold medals on Monday, added a fourth on Tuesday, as she led from the start in the 200 metre freestyle. Her time was 1:59.84, and at the end her nearest rival was several metres behind her.
In the women’s 200 metre breaststroke, South African Suzaan van Biljon took the gold in 2:31.53. Sarra Lajnef of Tunisia won the silver, and yet another South Africa, Kathryn Meaklim, came third.
An Egyptian swimmer, Farida Osman, won the 50 metre butterfly, pushing South African Mandy Loots into second position.
The longest race, the men’s 800 metre freestyle, was saved until last. Tunisia’s Ahmed Matlouthi won in eight minutes and ten seconds, while South Africans Mark Randall and Jasper Venter took the silver and bronze with times of 8:10.04 and 8:21.76.
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News