Archive - 2011 - Story

Chomas FC and Celtic 1 were the winners of the 2011 edition on the annual Christmas Cup held at the Swakopmund Football Club (SFC) in Swakopmund recently.

Chomas FC were the winners of the Social M&Z Cup while Celtic 1 won the League Hansa Cup.

In the finals, Chomas FC beat SFC 2 2-0 in an exciting encounter that saw them take the lead at the conclusion of the first half through Rene Traut.

Traut also scored the second goal to complete his brace in the 58th minute to give the newly established team the Cup in their first participation at the tournament.

JANUARY

Waldschmidt 38th in Dakar Rally

Ingo Waldschmidt completed the Dakar Rally for the second time when he finished 38th overall in the motorbike category on January 15.

Waldschmidt started off in 91st position and gradually worked his way down the field, and by the halfway mark he had moved up to 48th position overall.

Namibian flanker Tinus du Plessis, who was recently signed by English Premier League club Wasps, has already set his sights on going toe-to-toe with compatriot and national team captain Jacques Burger.

According to Wasps’ official website the 27-year-old Du Plessis, who previously had a spell in England with Rotherham, can't wait for the Premiership encounter with Saracens.

"We were room-mates," Du Plessis told the official Wasps site. "I already had some grief from him on Monday when Wasps lost, with some texts coming through.

Namibian cricketers Craig Williams and Christi Viljoen have been included in a Combined Associate and Affiliate (AM) XI team which will take on England in a three-day practice match at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai from 7 to 9 January 2012.



The match forms part of England’s preparation for their series against Pakistan which starts on 17 January with the first Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the Dubai Sports City.



2011 was once again an eventful sporting year full of drama, achievements and incidents, on and off the field, that put Namibian sport in the spotlight. Some achievements brought honour to the country, but there were also others that put Namibia in a bad light.

Here we take a look at some of the events that made the headlines, in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of 2011.

THE GOOD

Jacques Burger

Namibian swimmer Micaela Cloete excelled at the Western Province Sasko Swimming Championships on December 15 to 18 at the University of Western Cape when she won five individual and six relay medals.

In the individual events she won one gold, three silver and one bronze medal. She won gold in the 50m freestyle in a time of 28,22 seconds.

Her three silver medals came in the 50m breaststroke (35,77), 100m breaststroke (1:19,18) and 100m freestyle events (1:03,00).

Her bronze medal came in the 50m butterfly (31,06).

Siblings Florian and Silja Hentzen won the Elite Men and Women’s categories of the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile in Swakopmund on December 27.

Hundreds of spectators flocked to watch as the swimmers took to the ocean and swam from Tiger Reef to the Mole.  

Sea temperatures were very cold but fortunately the sea was relatively calm.  The pace was furious as swimmers jostled each other to get into the water first and to gain a competitive advantage.  

In a thrilling race, Henzen just managed to beat Boris Kulikowski by two seconds to the line.

Swimming - youngsters excel

2011 was a great year for Namibian swimming with a host of young swimmers coming to the fore with some excellent performances.

In December 2011 Namibia’s top junior swimmers rewrote the record books with some exceptional performances at the African Junior Swimming Championships in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

The Namibian team won a record 14 medals, which consisted of two gold, five silver and seven bronze medals, while they came third overall out of 11 competing nations. South Africa won the competition, followed by Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Cricket enjoys successful year

2011 was a very successful year for cricket in Namibia, both at senior as well as at junior level. The national senior team won the ICC Intercontinental Shield and was readmitted to the ICC Intercontinental Cup, while it is also in the running for a place at the 2012 T20 World Cup.

The national junior team, meanwhile qualified for the 2012 U19 World Cup where it will join the top cricketing nations of the world in Australia.

Intercontinental Shield

Rugby draws praise in defeat

Namibia’s national rugby team performed on the biggest stage in the world when they competed at their fourth successive Rugby World Cup in September 2011.

The team had gone with high hopes of recording their first ever victory at the World Cup but it was not to be as they once again lost all their matches.

In the end the stark truth remained that Namibia had a largely amateur team taking on the world’s best professional outfits.