Archive - 2012 - Story

Disabled Sport takes centre stage

Johanna Benson led the way as Disabled Sport Namibia stole the headlines in Namibia’s sporting landscape during 2012.

On a golden evening at the London Paralympic Games on September 5, she powered down the home straight to win the gold medal in the women’s T37 200m final and write her name in the record books as Namibia’s first ever gold medallist at the Paralympic Games.

She won the gold medal in a new African record and personal best time of 29,26 seconds.

Boxing Review

Boxing grows from strength to strength

Namibian boxing continued to grow from strength to strength over the past year and by December 2012, Namibia already had nine African or international title holders and eight boxers who were ranked amongst the world’s top 15 by the WBO in their different weight categories.

Paulus Ambunda notched up his 19th consecutive win as a pro boxer when he beat William Prado of Brazil on a unanimous points decision in July 2012 to win the WBO International Bantamweight title.

South African triathlete Nico Sterk won the Pupkewitz Jetty Mile in Swakopmund on December 27, with top Namibian swimmer Quinton Delie coming second and up and coming junior swimmer Philip Seidler third.

A total of 150 people participated in the annual holiday event which attracts a wide range of swimmers, from social to South African olympic calibre athletes, ranging between the ages of 5 (Sprint distance) to 71 (Jetty Mile).

The beach front from Tiger Reef Beach Bar to the Mole was lined with supporters and spectators.  

Cycling has traditionally been one of Namibia’s strongest sporting codes and performances during 2012 once again underlined that fact as Namibians made their mark at continental level.

At international level, however, Namibia made little impact as its top professional cyclist Dan Craven had a disappointing year.

Riding for his new team IG - Sigma Sport, Craven came seventh at the Lincoln Grand Prix in England in May.

Tumultuous times for Namibian rugby

Namibian rugby went through some tumultuous times over the past year, ranging from the high of participating at the Rugby World Cup to a low of losing to Madagascar.

In between the Namibia Rugby Union’s previous executive committee resigned following the World Cup, but the appointment of a new excom has instilled a newfound confidence as the NRU’s puts in place its plans of qualifying for a fifth successive World Cup in 2015.

Namibia’s national cricket team continued to make its mark on the international stage and held its own with some fine performances against the world’s second tier cricketing nations.

It also nearly qualified for its first ever T20 World Cup, but inexperience on the big stage put paid to their chances.

Namibia had a great start to the T20 World Cup qualifying tournament in Dubai, UAE in March, winning all seven their group matches to go to the top of the standings.

Namibian athletes shine abroad

Namibia’s top athletes made their country proud with some fine performances at regional, continental and international level during 2012.

Namibia once again competed at the South African Yellow Pages circuit from February to April this year where Tjipekapora Herunga and Globine Mayoba led the way with some record performances.

Herunga twice broke the Olympic A qualifying time in the 400m - on April 20, she won in Pretoria in 51,90 seconds and on May 5 she shattered her own Namibian record when she won at the SA Open in a new time of 51,24.

Black Africa striker Roger Katjiteo continues to lead the NPL Goalscoring chart after completion on Round 10 of the tournament.

Katjiteo had some good chances to increase his tally in BA’s Round 10 match against African Stars on December 15, but in the end he couldn’t find the net as the teams settled for a goalless draw.

Ramblers striker Heinrich Kazeua joined four other players in second place on four goals each after he scored an injury time equaliser against Blue Waters.

Young team shows promise for the future

Namibia’s national soccer team, the Brave Warriors started the year off with a FIFA world ranking of 122 and by the end of the year had moved one place up to 121 in the world.

In between, they fell to a lowest position of 134 in June and a highest one of 108 in October, before finishing the year where they started.

On the playing field, Namibia had been knocked out of the Afcon qualifiers and only remain in the World Cup qualifiers.

Three years ago the development program of Cricket Namibia knocked on the doors of People’s Primary School in Katutura, Windhoek.

Development officers started coaching cricket at the school every Monday during physical education periods.

This formed part of the Kwata Cricket Development project of Cricket Namibia in partnership with UNICEF and MTC introducing cricket and healthy lifestyle games to children irrespective of race, creed, gender and social background.