Archive - 2005

The January 2006 issue of Namibia Sport is on sale now at leading retailers like Model Pick & Pay and CNA.
Read about:
Blue Waters win FNB Cup
Namibia bids to host Africa Cup of Nations
Namibian athletics in disarray

The World Cup dream is over

Namibia failed to qualify for the 2007 Cricket World Cup after finishing seventh at the ICC Trophy in Ireland in July.
Only the top five countries qualified, and Namibia were under pressure from the start after controversially losing their opening match to Canada by only two runs. Further losses to Holland, Scotland and the United Arab Emirates put them out of the running and they eventually finished seventh.

A Golden Year for Namibian Boxing

Namibian boxing had a great year in 2005, which culminated in several prizes at the Namibia Sport Awards function at the end of October.
On the amateur front, Namibia won the Zone Six Championships in Bloemfontein, while flyweight Japhet Uutoni won a gold medal at the African Championships in Morocco.

The post-Fredericks slump

After more than a decade of Frank Fredericks? exceptional achievements at the highest level of international athletics, Namibian athletics had little to show by way of success in 2005.

By Brian Murgatroyd

The ICC's first-class competition for non-Test playing countries, the ICC Intercontinental Cup, will switch from a regional to a global tournament from 2006 onwards.
Under a new format agreed at the recent meeting of the ICC Development Committee, the competition will become an eight-team tournament and in 2006 those teams will be divided into two groups with the winners of each group contesting a final.

Jonay Briedenhann of the Namibia Swimming Academy continued her great form of late when she won two medals at the Kwazulu Championships.
Competing against some of the top Age Group swimmers of South Africa, she won a silver medal in the 200m backstroke for Girls 15/16 to better the Namibian Age Group record as well as Monica Dahl?s decade-old Open record. Dahl?s record stood at 2:31:45, and Briedenhann?s new record now stands at 2:29:90.

Namibian football?s most lucrative Cup competition to date, the MTC NFA Cup was launched at Soccer House in Katutura on December 21.
The total sponsorship for the competition amounts to N$900 000, with the winning team receiving N$350 000, the runners-up N$130 000 and the two losing semi-finalists, N$60 000 each.

Blue Waters beat African Stars on penalties in a tense and dramatic FNB Cup final on December 17.
Both sides gave it their all in an action-packed match in front of about 4 000 fans at the Sam Nujoma Stadium. With the sides tied at 1-all at the end of 90 minutes, the match went into extra time, and the exhausted players still could not break the deadlock.

Blue Waters bet Civics 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out on December 16 to progress to the final of the FNB Cup.
After a goalless 90 minutes, the match went into penalties, and after nine spot kicks were immaculately taken, Blue Waters keeper Athiel Mbaha saved Vladimir Abrahams? shot to win the match.

A Namibian team of 10 individual and five group gymnasts performed exceptionally well in the Rhythmic Gymnastics competition at the Zone Six Gymnastic Championships in Walvis Bay.
The Level 4 team won the overall gold medal, while the Pre-Junior, Junior and Senior teams all won silver medals.