African Sports Monthly January 2013 Issue | Page 19

Unlike Senegal and Egypt, the two other African nations, Gabon and Morocco were
knockout in the first hurdles as they were unable to make progress from their respective groups.
The surprise African champions, Gabon finished third in group B with only two points
behind Mexico, Korea whilst the same points saw Morocco finish in the same position
in group D behind Japan and Honduras.
The African champion’s poor run in their inaugural show at the Olympic Games must
not surprise many as their preparations for the Games was far from ideal even their
coach Claude Mbourounot complained about the lack of support his team had before
their departure to the games.
Mbourounot said their preparations was not good adding that they faced several difficulties in implementing their program and at the end the team was well-prepared for
the Games and could not make progress from the group stage.

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