Guinea booked their place at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament in Paris after Ilaix Moriba’s penalty sealed a 1-0 play-off victory over Indonesia on Thursday.

With the qualification via play-off, Africa will have four teams at the men’s football event of the Olympic Games.

Guinea now joins Morocco, Egypt and Mali.

The Guinean midfielder’s first-half strike from 12 yards proved the difference at Clairefontaine as the Syli Nationale secured qualification for just their second Olympic Games.

With the 16-team line-up for this summer’s event now complete, Guinea have been drawn in a daunting Group A alongside hosts France, USA and New Zealand.

The decisive moment came on the half-hour mark when Algassime Bah was brought down in the box by Indonesia’s Witan Sulaeman after a rapid Guinea counter-attack.

Moriba made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick, lashing the ball beyond the reach of the Indonesian goalkeeper to put the African side ahead.

Guinea had opportunities to extend their lead, with Mohamed Soumah’s close-range effort hacked off the line shortly after the restart.

But Indonesia rallied and went agonisingly close to an equaliser on the hour, substitute Alfeandra Dewangga’s glancing header drifting just wide.

Dewangga was soon at the centre of the action again, conceding a penalty after fouling Bah in the box – an award that prompted angry protests from the Indonesian bench and saw coach Shin Tae-yong dismissed.

After a lengthy delay, Bah took responsibility from 12 yards himself but could only strike the upright as Guinea missed the chance to put the result beyond doubt.

Indonesia pushed for a late leveller but Guinea’s defence stood firm to seal their historic place at Paris 2024 – 56 years after their Olympic debut in 1968.

The hard work starts now for the West Africans as they prepare to take on the might of France, USA and New Zealand in a daunting group stage

Fatimo Bello shot herself to the international limelight in 2022 when she defied all odds to reach the final of the African Cup, where she eventually lost to Egypt’s Hana Goda.

This performance contributed immensely to her world ranking fortunes; she became the third best player in Africa and the highest-ranked Nigerian female player in the world.

But after the 2022 feat, Bello moved to Italy to continue her professional career, while her inability to repeat her 2022 feet in 2023 affected her ranking, and she dropped down the pecking order in Africa.

However, she has been listed as one of Nigeria’s flagbearers at the African Olympic Qualification Tournament in Kigali, Rwanda, and the Lagos State-born athlete believes this is her time to join the league of elite players heading to Paris in July.

“It has not been easy since 2022, but I am still a work in progress with the hope that I will get back to my form. My African Games experience was not impressive at all, and I have that behind me with the hope that I can re-enact my form in Kigali,” she said.

The three-time Nigerian national champion, however, admitted that she expects tough challenges from other players but that she is poised to fight for one of the three tickets at stake. “It is not going to be an easy ride in Kigali because everybody is targeting a place at the Olympic Games, and I will be glad to become one of the new generation of players to compete at the Olympic Games,” she added.

Bello will be joined by Offiong Edem in the women’s category of the Olympic Qualifiers on May 16 to 18, while Quadri Aruna and Olajide Omotayo will compete in the men’s category, as the three top players will secure automatic tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France.

The Olympic flame landed on French soil amid tight security on Wednesday, firing the starting gun on a summer extravaganza of sport that President Emmanuel Macron hopes will showcase the splendours of France and burnish his legacy.

The flame arrived in Marseille, a port city in southern France founded by Greek merchants, after a 12-day trip from Greece onboard the Belem, a 128-year-old three-masted tall ship that once transported sugar from France’s colonies in the West Indies to the metropole.

The torch was brought to land by Florent Manaudou, France’s 2012 Olympic men’s 50 metres freestyle swimming champion, who handed it to Paralympic athlete Nantenin Keita, a 400 metres gold medallist at the Rio Games in 2016.

She then passed it on to Marseille-born rapper Jul, who lit the cauldron in front of an ecstatic crowd estimated at 150,000.

Earlier a flotilla of pleasure boats had welcomed the Belem to French shores.

“It marks the end of preparations, the Games arrive in the life of the French people. The flame is here, we can be proud,” Macron said.

Some 7,000 law enforcement officers including snipers and dog units secured Marseille’s Old Port, a stress test for the Paris 2024 organisers with France on its highest state of security alert against a complex geopolitical backdrop.

“There’s a huge security issue at stake. We will be ready. We will be on alert until the last second,” Macron said.

“It’s an unprecedented level of security,” Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said. “Life goes on in Marseille but under great security.”

From Marseille, the torch will continue on an 11-week odyssey that will see it criss-cross France and visit French overseas territories in the Caribbean as well as the Indian and Pacific oceans.

In all it will be carried by some 10,000 torchbearers before reaching Paris on July 26 for the Games’ opening ceremony.

Instead of a traditional opening ceremony, held in a stadium, France has planned a ritzy river parade along a six-kilometre stretch of the Seine, ending at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

SOUTHERN CHARM

Sun-baked Marseille, France’s second city, provides a different spectacle to the formal elegance of Paris and large crowds gathered around the Old Port to watch.

“It was the obvious choice,” Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, said of Marseille, which was founded around 600 BC by Greek settlers from Phocea.

Despite a history of gang crime and poverty, its turquoise creeks and Mediterranean accents encapsulate the French southern charms that have beguiled artists and movie stars for generations.

Sports competitions have long offered nations the opportunity to exert soft power and advance their geopolitical goals. This week Chinese President Xi Jinping voiced support for Macron’s call for a global truce during the Paris 2024 Games.

Suspending armed conflicts under an “Olympic truce” is a longstanding tradition. French officials hope Xi’s endorsement is a sign that he could use his influence to persuade Russia to honour a truce in Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin travels to China later this month.

Paris itself has come to take an increasingly important role in France’s diplomatic and commercial strategies.

Last year, Pharrell Williams staged his debut menswear collection for Louis Vuitton (LVMH.PA), opens new tab along Paris’ Pont Neuf bridge, with large crowds gathered along the banks of the Seine for a glimpse of his celebrity audience.

-Reuters