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| Monday, 11 November, 2002, 16:40 GMT Africa's race to Athens begins ![]() Cameroon won the 2000 Olympic football tournament There were some surprise results in last weekend's first round qualifiers for the 2004 Olympics football tournament. Cape Verde, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gambia got byes into the next round. Their respective opponents - Mauritania, Central African Republic, Benin and Guinea Bissau - were forced to withdraw as a result of financial constraints. But the shock result of the weekend was Kenya's 11-0 whitewash of Somalia. Bernard Mwalala and Dennis Oliech both got hat tricks for the Harambee Stars. Friday's match between Seychelles and Mauritius set the qualification ball rolling, with Seychelles recording a 1-0 win. Rwanda got a 1-1 away draw to Malawi in Lilongwe, Lesotho and Mozambique kept a clean sheet, while Botswana lost 1-2 to Swaziland. Ethiopia beat Sudan 2-1 in Addis Ababa, while Chad got a surprising 4-0 win over Libya in Tripoli. Return legs will be played between 22 and 24 November, after which the winners on aggregate will join other teams for the final qualifying phase. The Olympics football tournament has been a fertile ground for Africa in recent years, with Nigeria and Cameroon winning in 1996 and 2000. | See also: 05 Nov 02 | Africans abroad Top Africa stories now: Links to more Africa stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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