Archive - Apr 2012 - Story

Namibia’s participation at the Africa Olympic boxing qualifiers in Casablanca, Morocco got off to a disastrous start as light flyweight Jafet Uutoni was knocked out in the first round, while super heavyweight Tobias Munihango lost on points. To compound matters, flyweight Simon Johannes didnt arrive in time for his first round bout with the result that he lost on a walkover.

Of Namibia’s six boxers, only Mujandjae Kasuto, Jonas Matheus and Jeremia Nakathila managed to win their first bouts.

Excitement for the London Olympic Games is building in Namibia as hundreds of people attended a promotional event at the Wernhil Park shopping centre on Saturday morning.

The event was held to introduce Namibia’s athletes to the local community and to create a platform for the athletes to mingle and interact with members of the public.

Besides that several partners of the Namibia National Olympic Committee like Coca Cola, Samsung, Nampost, Virgin Active and the British High Commission also participated in the event, with stalls and promotional items on display.

Blue Waters winger Hendrik “Ballack” Somaeb is our FNB Player of the Month after receiving the most votes from our panel of judges.

Somaeb received four votes, while Black Africa defender Da Costa Angula received two votes, and Civics midfielder Steven Gariseb and Mighty Gunners midfielder Corenzo Beukes one vote each.

“Eish! I’m very happy,” Somaeb said after hearing the news that he had won the award.

“I’ve been working very hard on my game, so I’m happy to be rewarded and I want to thank FNB for sponsoring this competition,” he said.

Namibian swimmers excelled at the CANA Zone 3 and 4 Championships in Maputo, Mozambique, finishing third overall and winning 46 medals in total.

In the process they also set 19 new Namibian records as well as 11 CANA records.

Namibia had one of the smallest teams with only 19 swimmers, compared to South Africa (32 swimmers), Botswana (32) and the hosts Mozambique (38).

The other competing nations with the number of swimmers were Zambia (29), Kenya (27), Tanzania (27), Zimbabwe (21), Malawi (20), Swaziland (12), Angola (10), Mauritius (4) and Uganda (7).

With only two weeks left of the longest timed stage race in the world, the Tour d’Afrique, the winner is yet to be decided – a rare occurrence when it comes to a 12 000km race over 94 stages.

As participants move closer to their final border crossing and the finish line in Cape Town Christian Sailer from Switzerland and Raffael Schrof from Germany are still entwined in a battle for first position with less than two hours separating the speedsters.

In total, the participants have travelled through nine countries and just crossed the 10 000km mark.

South Africa dominated the CAA Southern Africa Junior Athletics Championships in Windhoek on Saturday, winning a total of 36 medals, consisting of 20 gold, 11 silver and 5 bronze medals.

Namibia finished second in the medal standings with 6 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze medals, while Botswana came third with 3 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Botswana just pipped Zimbabwe, who finished fourth with 3 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze medals.

Black Africa retained their unbeaten status in the league but it was a close affair as Blue Waters held them to a 1-all draw by Blue Waters at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Jerome Louis gave BA the lead when he scored from a corner scramble on 56m, but Hendrik Somaeb equalised 10 minutes later when he rounded off a counterattack to slide the ball past BA’s outrushing keeper Arnold Subeb.

Blue Waters did most of the attacking and twice hit the upright, while Black Africa also had a goal disallowed for offside.

Tigers and SKW played to a goalless draw on Friday night in a match of wasted opportunities, especially for Tigers.

Tigers had numerous opportunities but Pineas Jacob, Benson Shilongo and Letu Shatimuene were wasteful in attack, while SKW keeper Charles Uirab brought off some fine saves.

The interplay between Jacob and Shilongo also left a lot to be desired as several attacks broke down due to a lack of understanding.

Benson Shilongo headed over the bar from an early corner while Shatimuene had a shot well saved after breaking free on the counterattack.

Namibia’s top amateur boxers have arrived in Casablanca, Morocco for the African Olympic qualifying tournament and are confident of winning some medals to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.

More than 200 boxers from 35 nations will be fighting it out for the 48 Olympic slots that will be available.

The secretary general of the Namibia Boxing Federation Joe Kaperu said that the boxers were in top shape after spending a month at a training camp in Cuba in preparation for the Olympic qualifiers.

The Tour d’Afrique cycle trek from Cairo to Cape Town arrived in Windhoek on Wednesday for a quick stop over before they continue their trek to Cape Town on Friday morning.

More than 50 cyclists from all over the world are participating have in the tour which started in Cairo, Egypt on January 14 and covers close to 12 000km through 10 African countries until its destination in Cape Town on Saturday, May 12.

Most of the riders are social riders, but several are also participating in a race, with Namibia’s Alaric Britz currently lying fifth.