Archive - 2009

Namibia’s junior hockey players excelled at the annual National Pro Series Indoor Tournament in South Africa in December, winning three medals against South Africa’s top provincial teams. Namibia’s Under 15 girls’ team won a gold medal, Namibia’s Under 13 girls’ team won a silver medal and Namibia’s Under 17 boys’ team won a bronze medal.

Namibia’s Brave Warriors climbed one position to 113 in the world according to the monthly FIFA ranking which were released on December 16. Namibia were not active during the period under review, with their last match being their 1-0 defeat to Zambia on October 25. That was Namibia’s first defeat of 2009, as they won one and drew four other matches during the year. Namibia are ranked 30th in Africa and eighth in the SADC region.

Mozambique were the top ranked nation in the SADC region with a world ranking of 72 and an African ranking of 14.

2009 was a watershed for Athletics Namibian as Alpha Kangueehi’s controversial reign as president finally came to an end. Kangueehi had presided over Namibian athletics for more than five years during which time sponsorships dried up while national track and field as well as cross-country championships steadily diminished.

Namibia’s national rugby team capped a great year when they beat Tunisia 22-10 in Windhoek on October 28 to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was the fourth successive time that Namibia had qualified for the World Cup and the fifth time overall, as they once again underlined their status as the second best rugby nation on the African continent behind the world champions, the Springboks from South Africa. Namibia’s victory in Windhoek gave them a 40-23 aggregate victory after Namibia won the first leg in Tunisia 18-13.

Namibia beat Tunisia

Max Siedentopf won the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile for the third year in a row in Swakopmund on Sunday. The 18 year old scholar won the duathlon, consisting of a 1,6km swim in the sea and a 1km run in a time of 34:52 to finish 60 seconds ahead of South African triathlete Nico Sterk.

Another Namibian scholar, Boris Kulikowski of Swakopmund came third overall in 36:01, followed by veteran Tokkie Bombosch (36:15) and junior athlete Benjamin Buckendorf (41:21).