By Janna van Zyl
The 2008 Bank Windhoek Central Zone Artistic Championships was the first of the different Zone Championships to take place in Namibia during July 2008. This championship was very successful and well organised by Excelsior Gymnastics Club.
On Friday evening with the senior men competition gas heaters were brought into the hall to help the gymnasts to get rid of the cold before starting their routines on the different apparatus. Even on Saturday morning with five gas heaters in the hall at the different apparatus, the level 1 and 2 gymnasts struggled to be on top of their routines. Although some excellent scores of 9,00 plus were still achieved by various gymnasts.
Womenâ??s Artistic Gymnastics
Topping the scores in the level 1 section on the different apparatus was Kirsten Chiappini (Excelsior) on vault with 9.10, Kabuba Masule (SKW) on bars with 9.55, Miriam de Conceicao (SKW) on beam with 9.20 and Gwen Persaud (Excelsior) on floor with a mark of 9.35. The overall winners in the different age group were: Elizma Carstens (Crete - 6 years), Gwen Persaud (Excelsior - 7 years), Rachel Finch (Crete - 8 years), Miriam de Conceicao (SKW - 9 years), Kirsten Chiappini (Excelsior â?? 10 years), Nicole Schmidt (Excelsior â?? 12 years & under) and Jana Tjetjoo (SKW â?? 13 years & over)
The top scores achieved by gymnasts in level 2 were Charné Blaauw (Excelsior) on vault with a score of 8.98, on bars Tanyaradzwa Kapenzi (Excelsior) with a score of 9.30, on beam it was Anifa Alberts (SKW) with a score of 9.00 and Renodine Groeneveld (Excelsior) on floor with 9.30.
All around winners were Natascha Pfaender (Crete â?? 6 years), Kelsey Alberts (SKW â?? 7 years), Chelsey Pickering (Excelsior â?? 8 years), Natasha Rau (SKW â?? 9 years), Tanyaradzwa Kapenzi (Excelsior â?? 10 years), Anifa Alberts (SKW â?? 12 years & under) and Sharifa Bock (Excelsior â?? 13 years & over)
In the afternoon session we had the level 3 â?? Senior Olympic gymnasts competing and some excellent routines were displayed by the gymnasts. The all around winners in level 3 in the different age groups were Shawna Pieterse (Excelsior â?? 8 years & under), Carmen Diekmann (SKW â?? 9 years), Kelly du Plessis (Excelsior â?? 10 years), Daphne Nel (Excelsior â?? 12 years & under) and Bianke van Staden (Crete â?? 13 years & over). The best scores achieved in the apparatus section were Monique Beukes (Excelsior) on vault with a score of 9.18, Lize-Marié Liebenberg (Crete) and Daphne Nel (Excelsior) with 8.65 on bars, Sunelle Ludwig (SKW) with a score of 8.85 on beam and Daphne and Simone Nel (Excelsior) 9.05 on floor.
The Ooshuizen sisters of Excelsior made a clean sweep in the level 4 and 5 section. Larisa Oosthuizen in the level 4 section (10 years) achieved the highest scores on all 4 apparatuses as well as the all around section in her age group. She scored a 9.10 on vault, 9.40 on bars, 8.85 on beam, on floor 9.15 and 9.13 her overall average score. Annette van Staden (Crete â?? 8 years 7 under), Ena Lingenfelder (Excelsior â?? 9 years), Hildegard Maruta (SKW â?? 12 years & under) and Panduleni Shikongo (Excelsior â?? 13 years & over) were the all around winners in their different age groups.
Elmarize Oosthuizen (Excelsior) carried on with some excellent scores on the apparatuses as well as the all around winner in her age group (13 years & over â?? set routines). She achieved an 8.13 on vault, 9.70 on bars, 9.10 on beam, 9.30 on floor and an average score of 9.06 for the all around section. Carina du Plessis (Excelsior) also achieved an excellent score of 9.10 on bars. The all around winners were Courtney Lind (Crete â?? 10 years & under), Esteé Joubert (Excelsior â?? 12 years & under) and Carina du Plessis (13 years & over â?? voluntary routines)
The level 6 section had only 2 gymnasts and both in different age categories. Kira Bezuidenhout (Crete â?? 12 years & under) and Bianca van der Westhuizen (Excelsior â?? 13 years & over) won the all around section and on vault both achieved a score or 8.00. Kira achieved the highest scores on bars 9.50 and on floor 9.30 and Bianca on beam 8.40.
Katja Serrer (Excelsior â?? 10 years & under), Nadine Jaeger (Crete â?? 12 years & under) and Izahn van Zyl (Excelsior â?? 13 years & over) in the level 7 section were the all around winners. The highest scores achieved in this level were Nadine Jaeger (Crete) with a 9.95 on vault and on floor 9.50 and Izahn van Zyl (Excelsior) on bars 8.90 and beam 8.70.
In level 8 â?? Senior Olympic it was only gymnasts from Excelsior Gymnastics club who participated in these levels. The all around winners were Laetitia du Plessis in level 8, Kirsty van der Merwe in level 9, Simone van der Hoeven in level 10 and Chloè Hansen in the Senior Olympic section. In the level 8, 9 and Senior Olympic sections there was only 1 gymnast per level. However the level 10 section had 3 gymnasts competing. Simone van der Hoeven had the highest score on vault 10.25, beam 13.80 and floor 14.20 while Nonna van der Merwe achieved a 13.50 on bars.
Menâ??s Artistic Gymnastics
In this section high scores were achieved as gymnasts from level 1 â?? 8 obtained bonuses for their routines on the different apparatuses. In level 1 the gymnasts only participate on four apparatus and the highest scores of the day were from Daniel-David Francis (Excelsior) with a 9.90 on vault and 9.75 on high bar, Malte Gessert (Excelsior) 10.05 on parallel bars and Quinton Jacobs (Crete) with 10.35 on floor. The all around winners were Johann Serfontein (Excelsior - 6 years & under), Jason Schmidt (Excelsior â?? 7 years) and Quinton Jacobs (Crete â?? 9 years & over).
In the level 2 section the gymnasts participated on six apparatus. CJ Bezuidenhout (Crete) achieved the highest scores on four apparatus, floor 9.60, pommel horse 9.50, rings 10.10 and 9.60 on high bar. On vault it was Juan Lamprecht (Excelsior) with a score of 10.00 and on parallel bars it was Sean Labuschagne (Crete) with a score of 10.00. Kobus Wilders (Excelsior- 7 years & under), Juan Lamprecht (Excelsior â?? 9 years & under) and CJ Bezuidenhout (Crete (12 years & under) were the all around winners in level 2.
The all around winners in level 3 were Christopher Jansen (Crete â?? 8 years & under), Werner Graupe (Excelsior â?? 10 years & under) and Pierre Chamberlain (Crete â?? 13 years & under). Werner Graupe achieved four highest scores on the following apparatus - floor 9.70, rings 10.40, parallel bars 10.20 and 9.50 on high bar while Marc Fourie (Excelsior) achieved the highest scores on vault of 9.90 and pommel horse 8.50.
There were only two competitors in the level 4 section, competing in different age groups. Sebastiaan Nevelsteen (Excelsior â?? 9 years & under) and Piet Liebenberg (11 years & under) were the all around winners. Sebastiaan achieved the highest scores on rings 10.10, 9.90 on vault, 9.70 on parallel bars and Piet Liebenberg achieved the highest scores on floor 9.35 and 10.00 on high bar, while both achieved the highest score on pommelhorse 8.90.
The level 5 also had only two competitors in the same age group, namely Sascha Pfaender and Guido Nowack both of Crete Gymnastics Club. The all around winner was Sascha and he also achieved the highest scores on pommelhorse and high bar while Guido took the other 4 apparatuses, floor, rings, vault and parallel bars.
Joshua van Tonder (11 years & under) and Riz Zimmerman (13 years & under) both from Excelsior Gymnastics Club were the all around winners in level 6. Riz Zimmermann excelled in 3 of the apparatuses, floor 9.30, 9.90 on vault and 8.80 on high bar. On pommelhorse it was Bjoern Nowack (Crete) with a score of 8.05. Johann Delport (Excelsior) achieved the highest score on rings 9.55 and Joshua van Tonder (Excelsior) on parallel bars with 9.30
Level 7 it was Lourens Louw (Excelsior) and Benton-Steel Botes (Crete) who competed in different age groups and were therefore the all around winners. Benton-Steel achieved the highest score on floor, vault, parallel bars and high bar and Lourens Louw on pommelhorse and rings. Hannes Otto was the only gymnast in level 8 and achieved an all around score of 7.42.
JR Franks, Morihei Anderson and Paul van der Merwe all from Excelsior were the only gymnasts competing in level 9. JR and Morihei competed in the age group 13 years & under while Paul the all around winner in the age group 16 years & older. JR topped the 13 years & under section with highest scores on all the 6 apparatuses and being the all around winner.
The gymnasts of the Central Zone is sending out a strong signal to the other zones that they will be the ones to beat at the second qualifying competitions which will take place later this year.