Exciting qualifiers in prospect

Chad coach Akono is pleased with his team

By Durosimi Thomas BBC Sport Online, Accra

Six teams will go through to the next stage of the African Olympic Games qualifiers after this weekend's preliminary round second-leg matches.

Apart from Chad - who look set to go through after a 4-0 thrashing of Libya in Tripoli - the other games are very close.

Africa's race to Athens begins

Botswana returned home two weeks ago from Swaziland with a convincing win after coming from behind to snatch a 2-1 victory.

For the home match on Sunday, Botswana hope to strengthen their defence with the return of Mogogi Gabonamong and striker Pontsho Moloi, who missed the first leg due to injury.

Swaziland's preparation suffered a setback due to the late turn out of its student footballers, but coach Francis Banda is optimistic of qualifying.

Results and fixtures

Mauritius are at home to Seychelles and have a 1-0 deficit to reverse

If they succeed coach Sarjoo Gowreesungkur will be the number one candidate for the coach of the year award for which he was nominated yesterday.

The Malawi Under-23 side drew 1-1 with Rwanda and they are now under pressure to win in Kigali on Sunday.

The Malawian side lost to South Africa in the All-African Games qualifiers, while the Under-20's lost to their South African counterparts in qualifying for the Nations Cup in Burkina Faso next year.

Mozambique could face elimination from one of the weakest teams, Lesotho, after both sides drew 0-0 in Maputo.

A late penalty meant Ethiopia defeated Sudan 2-1 in Addis Ababa, but the return game could be wide open in Khartoum.

Kenya are already through, having thrashed Somalia 15-0 over two legs.

Both legs took place in Kenya due to the security situation in Somalia.

Mauritania, Congo and Gambia are already through to the next round, but Guinea Bissau, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic and Cape Verde have withdrawn.

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Fixtures:

Mauritius v Seychelles
Rwanda v Malawi
Lesotho v Mozambique
Botswana v Swaziland
Chad v Libya
Sudan v Ethiopia