Fifty local based players have been called up for a training camp in preparation for Namibia’s African Championship (CHAN) qualifying matches at home and away against the Seychelles in March.

The CHAN competition was first introduced in 2008 and is limited to local-based players on the African continent. Namibia failed to reach the finals after it lost on aggregate home and away to Zimbabwe in the qualifying stages. The DR Congo went on to win the inaugural title in March 2009 when it beat Ghana 2-0 in the finals in the Ivory Coast.

Brave Warriors coach Tom Saintfiet has called up five new players to his 25-man squad in preparation for the friendly international match against South Africa in Durban on March 3.

African Stars goalkeeper Max Mbaeva makes a return to the squad after an absence of more than a year, after being dropped due to disciplinary reasons.

Blue Waters defender Gotlieb Nakuta has been recalled after an absence of more than a year, as has former Brave Warriors captain and central defender Michael Pienaar, who plays for South African first division club Carrara Kicks.

Namibia crashed to a nine-wicket defeat against Northerns in their one day limited overs CSA Challenge match in Pretoria on Sunday. Namibia’s top order batsmen laid a solid foundation for a big score, but the middle order collapsed as the whole team was out for 199 off 38,2 of their 40 overs. Northerns easily reached Namibia’s total for the loss of only one wicket, with nine overs to spare.

Sent in to bat, Namibia’s openers Willem Groenewald and Wian van Vuuren got off to a quick start and put on 37 runs for the first wicket before Van Vuuren was out for 23 runs.

A total of 204 teams (24 Men and 180 Mixed Teams) entered the Windhoek Draught/DTS Volleyball for All tournament which was held on 17 courts at the DTS club on Saturday.

The following results were achieved:

Mixed:
1 Bose Namibia (21-18, 21-12). Gold medals and Windhoek Draught Cooler bags
2 Flying Potatoes: Silver medals and Windhoek Draught Shoulder Bags.
3. Die Pauker (15-14) Bronze medals and Windhoek Draught Travel Bags.
4. JOCV (Japan Overseas Corporation Volunteers).

The MTC Namibia Premier League title race was thrown wide open after the top two teams dropped points over the weekend. African Stars were beaten 1-0 by Eleven Arrows in Walvis Bay, while second placed Orlando Pirates were held to a 1-1 draw by Ramblers. Only Tigers, amongst the top five teams, could manage a win – beating United Stars 2-0 – which sees them moving up to third place, four points behind Stars.