Near misses deny the women’s under-19 team, the Black Princesses a place in the finals of the All Africa Games as they suffer defeat in the semi-finals.

Ghana, making their debut at the second edition of the women’s event at the games and playing with 10 players after a red card for half the period of the second half stretched the far experienced South African senior women’s team but went down 2-0 at the 20 Aout stadium today.

Diana Ankomah, Shiela Owusu and Leticia Zekpi came close to finding the back of the net for Ghana but were denied by good goalkeeping by the South African shot stopper.

South Africa, after a goalless first half poked in two goals within a seven-minute spell as Ghana’s matters were not helped either after the first goal when Agnes Aduako was shown the red card for a tackle on an opponent.

The Black Princesses would now vie for bronze in the third place game on Saturday at the Zeralda stadium.

This is the second time in succession that women are playing at the All Africa Games in the football competition after the 2003 event and the first for Ghana.

Ghana, represented by the under-19 team in their first major international competition got to this stage of the competition after topping Group B win with successive wins over Algeria and Senegal.