Archive - Jun 2012 - Story

The London Olympic Games start in one month’s time on June 27 and to mark the event the British High Commission in Namibia issued the following statement:

London’s Games will be “a very British affair, on a very global stage”

One month to go, and London is calling...

As the first city to host the Olympics three times, we’re looking forward to welcoming the world to London in the days and weeks ahead. Every Games – from Sydney to Barcelona to Beijing – says something unique and distinctive about the country that hosts them. London will be no different.

The African Athletics Championships get underway in Porto Novo, Benin today with Namibia being represented by six athletes at the continental showpiece.

Sprinters Globine Mayova and Hitjiverue Kaanjuka; 400m athletes Tjipekapora Herunga and Frank Puriza; 800m athlete Daniel Nghipandulwa; and triple jumper Roger Haitengi will join Africa’s top athletes in search of medals at the biennial showpiece.

According to times achieved so far this year, Herunga will be Namibia’s best hope for a medal.

Namibian rugby coach Danie Vermeulen said he was not too happy with their performance on Saturday when they lost 34-24 to the South African Universities, but there were also some positive aspects to take from the match.

“I am quite disappointed with our performance because we set several targets that we did not meet. We made too many mistakes, especially on defence, while there were also too many handling errors. But we had several newcomers and this was our first match together, so that was to be expected,” he said.

Jakob Machleidt of the German Private School DHPS and Antoinnette van Wyk of M&K Gertze were the singles winners of the Namibian Under 18 Table Tennis Championships which were held at the JTL Beukes Primary School in Rehoboth on Saturday.

The tournament was administrated by the NTTA and was a huge success, thoroughly enjoyed by all involved.

The tournament, which was well attended by 58 boys and 14 girls, saw players from Windhoek, Rehoboth, Mariental and as far as Stampriet in action. Players from the coastal towns unfortunately did not attend.

Bee Bob Brothers, Celtics, Epupa 11 Stars and African Lions are promoted to the Nationwide First Division after winning the playoffs held over the weekend.

Bee Bob Brothers won the Southern Stream First Division playoffs held at the Kuisebmond Stadium in Walvis Bay while Celtics finished as runners-up to join them in the second-tier of Namibian football.

The two sides recorded big victories over the weekend including Celtics’ 8-0 win over Shaluza Chiefs, while Bee Bob Brothers defeated Dates Eleven 5-0.

Namibia’s top athletes rounded off their preparations for the African Athletics Championships in style, when they took Ingolstadt by storm during an exciting International MTV meeting in the German region of Bavaria on Friday night.

All Africa Games double bronze medallist Tjipekapora Herunga was the first to step on the track and she did not disappoint. Herunga dominated the 400m race putting her competitors under pressure from the start and was already in the lead at 200m and kept her composure as she accelerated  to win in 53.25.

Harry Simon maintained his unbeaten record when he knocked out Rueben Groenewald of South Africa in the first round of their light heavyweight fight on Saturday evening.

Fighting at a packed SKW Hall, Groenewald came out attacking but Simon put him down with his first serious punch, a powerful hook to the body.

Groenewald managed to get up by the count of eight but Simon was immediately all over him and trapped him with a flurry of blows on the ropes.

Namibia’s rugby team got their 2012 campaign off to a losing start as they lost 34-24 to South African Universities at the National Rugby Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The match served as preparation for Namibia’s opening 2015 World Cup qualifiers in Madagascar next weekend and on this performance they still have a lot of work to do.

The Namibian team, which showed several newcomers, played in fits and starts, with their team work and overall supportive play lacking while defensive lapses gave the visitors several tries on a plate.

Brigitte Looser and Wiebke Hoeritzhauer won their third title of the year on the Namibian Beach Volleyball circuit last weekend, to drive away with a sponsored KIA motor vehicle which they may use until the next tournament.

The Namibian pair won the Women’s 2-a-side competition, beating the Zimbabwean national team of Viola Muchaoona and Christine Manyana into second place, while Namibia’s Karin Curschmann and Anita Kinder came third.

Harry Simon vowed to knock Rueben Groenewald out when they meet in a cruiserweight fight at the SKW Hall in Windhoek on Saturday night.

Simon has been training in Windhoek for the past two weeks and said he was fit and raring to go for the fight.

“This fight will be a great test for me because Rueben Groenewald is a former world champion and one of South Africa’s greatest fighters. But I’ve got the speed and the power and I’m more clever than him. I’ll knock him out by the sixth round,” Simon confidently predicted.