Archive - 2011 - Story

Namibian swimmers continued to shine at the African Junior Swimming Championships on Saturday, with Christine Briedenhann leading the way with two gold medals.

Besides Briedenhann, Namibia won one more silver and two more bronze medals on Saturday to take their overall tally to 11 medals at the end of the third day.

It was the first time ever that Namibia had won a gold medal at the continental junior championships and for good measure Briedenhann made it two.

Namibia’s interim WBO African bantamweight champion, Immanuel Naidjala notched up his 12th consecutive professional victory in impressive style when he beat Nkqubela Gwazela of South Africa on a fourth round technical knockout on Saturday evening.

Gwazela had come with a big reputation, being a former South African flyweight and bantamweight champion, but he failed to make much of an impression against Naidjala, who was faster, sharper and more powerful from the start.

SKW went second on the log after beating United Stars 2-0 in Windhoek on Saturday.

Joslin Kamatuka opened their account shortly before halftime while Elvis Tjivasera headed in their second goal from a corner, on 78m.

The result sees SKW moving up to 19 points after 10 matches, but they are now seven points behind log leaders Black Africa.

United Stars meanwhile stay bottom of the log on two points and they are still in search of their first win of the season.

A goal in each half saw the Young Gladiators beat the South African U20 side 2-1 in a friendly match played at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

Namibia’s goals came from Alberta Dawes and Shirley Cloete while Robyn Moodaly scored South Africa’s solitary goal.

The first 45 minutes started with the visitors dominating the Namibian side but poor finishing prevented them from taking an early lead.

Namibian swimmers had already won a record six medals at the African Junior Swimming Championships in Port Harcourt, Nigeria at the end of the second day’s events.

Namibia had only won four medals previously at the African Junior Championships - back in 2005 when Quinton Delie won four bronze medals in Mauritius, but after the first two days’ competition in Nigeria, they had already won three silver and three bronze medals.

National coach Ryan Skinner said the Namibian swimmers had excelled so far.

Namibia drew 1-1 against Zimbabwe in their opening match of the U20 Cosafa Cup competition in Botswana on Friday.

Playing in Group D at the Molepolole Stadium, about 50km outside the capital Gaborone, Namibia took a first half lead through Blue Waters midfielder Hendrik Somaeb.

Zimbabwe however equalised after the break to take a share of the spoils.

In another Group D match, Angola beat Madagascar 1-0 to go to the top of the group.

Black Africa were rather fortunate to beat Hotspurs 3-1 in a Round 10 Premier League match on Friday night.

Hotspurs took the lead on 31m when Richard Kavendji scored after a quick counter attack.

Black Africa struck back on 56m when Klaas Blom ran onto a long centre to tap the ball home from close range.

The match seemed to be heading for a draw until a collision between BA striker Roger Katjiteo and Hotspurs keeper Tommy Shilumbu in the final minutes changed the complexion of the game.

Desportivo de Agosto of Angola and Mafolofolo of Botswana were crowned the Zone 6 Volleyball Club champions at the DTS Sport Club in Windhoek on Thursday evening.

De Agosto beat Kutlwano of Botswana in a thrilling five setter, while Mafolofolo also beat Kutlwano 3-1 in the women’s final.

The men’s final was a thrilling affair that could have gone either way. Spectators at the packed DTS Club were treated to some top class volleyball as the match continued till late in the evening, with fortunes swaying to and fro.

The Namibian national netball team left for Singapore on Friday confident that they will achieve good results when they participate in the Nations Cup tournament that will be held from 5 to 11 December.

Jatjinda Kambatuku, captain of the team said this on the eve of the team’s departure.

“We are very confident that we will perform better this year because we have more talent and we prepared for longer,” Kambatuku said.

Namibia kick off their campaign in the Cosafa U20 Youth Championships on Friday with a tough encounter against Zimbabwe in Group D.

Namibia finished runners up in the competition last year while Zimbabwe finished third.

Namibia have retained many of their players from last year so must be among the favourites to go all the way, while Zimbabwe are a traditional power in the region and will also be targeting a place in the final.

The match will take place on the artificial surface at the Molepolole Stadium in the village 50-kilometres west of the capital, Gaborone.