体坛英语新闻：Africa countries moot to start six-nation professional hockey league

NAIROBI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Six countries plan to start an exclusive league to boost the competitiveness of hockey in Africa starting in 2020.

Frank Oti-Mensah, chairman of Ghanaian side Exchequers who are in the country for friendly, said Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda are mooting up a plan to start a six-nation league.

The league will offer another level of competition to compliment on the two events run by the Africa Hockey Federation - the African Cup of Nations for national teams and the club competition dubbed African Cup for Club Championship.

Unlike in Europe and America where hockey is a big sport, Africa is facing a dearth in talent and unless individual countries take up the initiative to bolster their leagues and competition, soon there will be no championships within the continent.

"Only a few countries have a vibrant league. There are limited competitions in the continent and unless we change tact, the sport will die in Africa," said Mensah on Wednesday in Nairobi.

"Ghana already has a binding partnership with Kenya. We will try to convince willing nations to join us. Nigeria and the other two East African countries will surely be enough to play in a competitive tournament. Egypt is also a strong friendly country to consider."

Africa has struggled to join the big leagues in Europe and always get eliminated in the preliminary rounds in international competition.

However, Mensah says this six-nation tournament will help improve the standards of the game and exposing more players on the international stage.

"You cannot compare an Africa player who is 20-years-old, with a colleague from Europe. Africa players lack the exposure to compete at the top level largely because of the few competitions in the continent," said Mensah.

Kenya lost its glamour and glory since its last show at the Olympics back in 1984. In August, Kenya hockey teams suffered defeats to Zimbabwe at the Africa Field Hockey 2020 Olympic qualifiers in South Africa.

Kenya finished third during the Africa qualifier for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, beating Ghana 4-3 in the play-off.

However, it was South Africa once again who got to represent the continent at the 2016 Rio Olympics after they beat Egypt. South Africa will still represent Africa in Tokyo Olympics.