Archive - 2009 - Story

On Saturday 12 FMX athletes of the IFMXF arrived on the African continent and jumped Windhoek for the NIGHT of the JUMPs into the ground. The air was burning on the FMX obstacle course at Tony Rust Race Track. Remi Bizouard gambled away in the qualifying round and missed the finals. But in the end he could celebrate, as his closest rivals Libor Podmol and Jose Miralles only managed to finish fourth and fifth respectively, which ensured that Bizouard successfully defended his title with an unassailable lead of 23 points.

The Namibia Football Association’s Galz & Goals project has attracted a staggering total of over 1 200 girls playing in Under 13 and Under 15 football tournaments and trained 92 coaches at five regional festivals this summer. The festivals aim to create interest for regional leagues beginning in March 2010, training coaches and the girls themselves on Healthy Lifestyles along the way.

The NFA-DFB Youth Coaching Licence Course was concluded on Friday at Soccer House with 50 successful participants, while 12 failed to achieve the desired results. The two-week programme attracted 66 youth coaching aspirants before four pulled out midway through the course due to personal reasons.

The course was conducted by NFA technical Director Klaus Staerk and German Football Federation Instructor Nicolai Adam.

Cymot SKW midfielder Milton Chapo has shot to the top of the MTC Premiership goalscoring chart after blasting four goals in SKW’s record 9-3 victory against United Stars on Saturday.

Chapo scored two goals in each half to move to the top of the chart with seven goals after Round 9 of the Premiership.

Chapo replaces Orlando Pirates midfielder Meraai Swartbooi at the top, who drops down to second position on six goals. Swartbooi is joined by United Stars winger Alfred Shimuma who scored two goals in Stars’ 9-3 defeat to SKW.

Following the successful hosting of the Basketball Indaba in October 2009, the Namibia Basketball Federation is continuing in its efforts to resuscitate basketball as a national sport.

Among the efforts required to clean up basketball, the Indaba resolved that new leadership structures be elected in all thirteen regions. This resolution was also in line with the mandate given by the Namibia Sports commission to the NBF’s interim committee, to elect a “new leadership in the entire 13 regions.”

Namibia’s Under-20 squad has gone into camp in Windhoek with 23 players called up to prepare for the COSAFA U20 Youth Championships in South Africa next month.

The team have a couple of new faces with the most notable one, Sport Klub Windhoek’s (SKW) youthful keeper Andre Fug and the return of Absalom Imbodi to the fray.

Namibia opens the championships with a date against host South Africa on December 6 at Dobsonville.

Namibia then plays Comoros on December 11 at Eldorado Park with their final Group A match to be on December 11 against the Seychelles at Dobsonville.

The Brave Warriors have dropped down three places to 114 in the world, according to the latest FIFA rankings which were released on Friday. During the month under review Namibia played one international match, losing 1-0 to Zambia in a Cosafa Challenge match in Zimbabwe on October 25.

It was Namibia’s first defeat in more than a year, during which time Namibia reached its highest ranking in more than a decade of 101 in the world. In September, Namibia was still ranked fifth in SADC and 26th in Africa.

Maritzburg United’s Namibian international winger, Rudolf Bester has been nominated for the Jet Club Rookie of the Month award. Each month Jet announces nominees for the Jet Club Rookie of the Month award. It is then up to the soccer loving public to vote for which of the nominees has performed the best that month.

The winner takes home R5 000 and automatically qualifies for the Jet Club PSL Rookie of the Year award and the R50 000 prize that goes with it.

African Stars have taken the lead in the MTC Premiership title race for the first time this season after beating Katutura rivals Orlando Pirates 2-0 on Friday. Henry Somseb gave Stars the lead on 23m before Heinrich Kazerua scored from the penalty spot on 72m.

The victory saw Stars overtaking Pirates at the top of the log on 21 points, while Pirates drop down to second position on 20 points.

Black Africa wasted a great opportunity to close in on the leaders when they were held to a 2-all draw by Blue Waters at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday night.

Martin Haikali caused a major upset when he beat Jatoorora Tjingavete on a technical knock out in the sixth round to become the new African WBO lightweight champion on Saturday night. Haikali was roped in as a replacement for Wandile Mseleku of South Africa who withdrew without any reason at the last minute, but despite the short notice, Haikali rose to the occasion with a brilliant performance.

Haikali was the busier boxer from the start, throwing combinations and taking the fight to Tjingavete from the first round. Tjingavete had a cagey start, looking for openings with his jab.