At the end of the first half, Angola was winning by 31 to 28, but a decisive spurt by the Senegalese in the third quarter brought the score to 49-39 in Senegal’s favour, and even a recovery by Angola in the final quarter could not reverse that lead.
In the match to decide the bronze medal, Nigeria beat Mozambique by 72-69. The result was a great disappointment for the thousands of Mozambican fans crammed in to the Maxaquene pavilion in central Maputo.
A few days ago, it looked as if nothing could deny Mozambique a place in the finals. The Mozambican team won the first six of its matches – only to fall to Senegal in the semi-final. In the qualifying rounds, Mozambique beat Nigeria by 52-44, but proved unable to repeat that achievement on Sunday night.
The Mozambicans led in the first quarter by 16 to 11, but Nigeria clawed three points back in the second quarter. In the third quarter, Nigeria took an eight point lead (54-46), and despite a spirited fight back in the final quarter, the Mozambicans ended three points behind the Nigerians.
Mozambican fans could take some comfort from events in the men’s basketball, where the Mozambican team beat Mali by the decisive margin of 85-55. Mali had been leading at the end of the first quarter (22-19), but the rest of the game went entirely in Mozambique’s favour.
In the other men’s basketball matches played on Sunday, Egypt beat South Africa (65-48), Nigeria beat Algeria (63-44) and Angola beat Cape Verde (67-62).
In the men’s handball, Congo beat Ghana 30-20, and Kenya beat Nigeria 30-18.
Four women’s handball matches were played on Sunday, in which Algeria beat Senegal (30-18), Cape Verde beat Kenya (30-22), the Democratic Republic of Congo beat Ghana (37-15), and Nigeria beat Madagascar (35-10).
The final cycling races through the streets of Maputo on Sunday morning were utterly dominated by South African cyclists. In the men’s elite road race, South Africans Nolan Thompson, Jay Hoffman, Janse Van Rensburg and Darren Lill took the top four positions. Hoffman had a time of 3 hours 36 minutes and 59 seconds. His three compatriots were neck and neck on 3 hours 37 minutes and 2 seconds.
In the women’s elite race, Lyse Burger won on 1 hour 30 minutes and 44 seconds, fractionally ahead of fellow South African Lise Olivier. Mauritian cyclist Aurelie Halwachs was third in a time of 1 hour, 37 minutes and 40 seconds.
Post published in: Sport