Archive - Jul 2007 - Story

By Festus Nakatana

Namibia once again failed to progress past the first hurdle of the Cosafa Castle Cup after going down by a solitary goal to Botswana at the National Stadium in Gaborone in the second semi final on Saturday. The Namibian side however redeemed themselves with a 3-2 victory against Lesotho in the less crucial third place playoff, despite contesting the entire second half with ten men on Sunday afternoon.

Namibiaâ??s national rugby team, the Welwitschias gave a poor performance before going down 32-20 against a South African Universities side at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.
Namibia held the visitors at bay in the first half with some resolute defence and went into halftime trailing 8-6. But poor defending and lapses in concentration in the second half saw the Universities team being gifted some easy tries, to race into a 22-6 lead. Namibia managed to reduce the deficit to 25-13, but then once again let in a soft try to end up comprehensively beaten.

Mannie Heymans finally surrendered his African Mountain Bike title to South Africaâ??s Burry Stander, when he came third at the MTC African MB Championships in Windhoek on Saturday.
Heymans had dominated the event over the past nine years, winning the title in 1999, 2001 and 2003, but this time the task was too much for the 36-year-old Namibian and Stander won the title with ease.

By Bernd Kroemer

Seven races, seven wins! This goes for our guest from Botswana, the pro Ross Branch, after the seventh leg of the Namibian motocross series in Swakopmund on July 21.
Ross already rode in Germany for renowned racing teams such as Pfeil-Kawasaki, Bodo Schmidt-KTM and Sturm-Kawasaki-Team. His unparalleled success in Namibia is therefore predictable. He likes the Namibian racing tracks and the professionally organised events. Of course he is also keen on the popular after-parties as well! Therefore he takes on the burden of travelling to and fro in order to participate in every single Namibian MX-race. His latest victory wasnâ??t unexpected, but apart from that, the racing day held a couple of surprises in store. And all that in front of the eyes of the representatives of First National Bank, the generous sponsor!

Soccer

Cosafa Castle Cup

The Cosafa Castle Cup mini-tournament takes centre stage in Gaborone, Botswana, with Namibia playing the host nation in the second semi-final on Saturday. Three times Cosafa Cup winners Angola will play Lesotho in the first semifinal.

By Festus Nakatana

A relatively inexperienced and rejuvenated Namibian side left for Gaborone today to face Botswana on Saturday in the second semifinal of the Cosafa Castle Cup tournament in that country.

By Festus Nakatana

MTC managing director Jose Antonio Ferreira has expressed dissatisfaction with Namibiaâ??s sport codes' dismal performances particularly at the international level, saying the poor showing was a regrettable situation. The MTC head made the remarks at the official launch of the MTC Sport Awards yesterday.

By Festus Nakatana

The Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) today officially launched the 2007 MTC Sports Awards at its headquarters in the capital. The awards are in its seventh year and according to Chief Administrator of the NSC Rusten Mogane, the event continues to grow with each coming year. The NSC will for the first time attach monetary value to the different winners in the various categories of this yearâ??s event.

AFTER being forced to miss the African Games due to illness, Dan Craven bounced back to top form by netting two important results in one weekend. On Saturday, July 21 Dan finished second in the UCI 1.2 ranked Giro Valli Aretine and then helped his Swiss based team (www.teamFidiBC.com) win the team competition the next day at the Giro del Casentino, also 1.2 ranked, by finishing 16th.

By Festus Nakatana

Silver Starsâ?? new acquisition Henrico Botes will not make his comeback to the national team for this weekend's Cosafa Castle Cup tournament in Botswana. Brave Warriors team manager Tim Isaacks said that Starsâ?? coach Owen Da Gama could not release the player as he just recently signed with the club. â??We received a negative answer. The coach humbly requested us not to call him up as the player was still establishing himself at Stars,â? he said.