Namibian athletes Tjipekapora Herunga and Globine Mayova set the track alight with some exceptional performances at the South African Yellow Pages series during April and May.
Not since the days of Agnes Samaria have Namibian female track athletes made such an impact in South Africa and on this form we certainly haven’t seen the last of them yet.
Both athletes won several races against southern Africa’s top athletes, while Herunga broke the Namibian 400m record and Mayova the 100m and 200m national records.
Herunga had already qualified for the London Olympics at the All Africa Games last year, but with her latest record of 51,24 seconds she has once again set an Olympic A qualifying time. What’s more, at that stage her time was the 10th fastest 400m time in the world this year and on this form she might just cause a surprise or two at the Olympics.
Her great friend and competitor Globine Mayova has also been in sparkling form, although she has not qualified for the Olympics yet. She is however very close - in the 100m she is 0,16 seconds off the Olympic B qualifying time and in the 200m she is a mere 0,09 seconds off the pace.
Mayova is confident of doing so and with some more top class events coming up like the African Athletics Championships in Benin at the end of June, she will hopefully also book her ticket to the London Olympic Games.
Last month saw two Namibian boxers, Mujandjae Kasuto and Jonas Matheus also qualifying for the Olympic Games, to bring Namibia’s total representation to nine athletes. At the African Olympic qualifiers in Morocco, Kasuto won the silver medal in the 75kg middleweight category while Matheus claimed one of the five available spots in the 54kg bantamweight category.
Their achievements were however overshadowed by an administrative fiasco that saw flyweight boxer Johannes Simon missing his first round fight after the management got the starting time wrong. After all the money and effort that had been spent on the boxers’ preparations (they trained in Cuba for a month before) it is just such a waste, while these administrative blunders really reflect badly on Namibia’s image.
In soccer, the Namibia Premier League has finally come to a close after an exciting season that saw Black Africa winning the title for the second year in a row. In the end they failed to rewrite the record books by finishing the season unbeaten after losing their only match to Ramblers, but their domination was such that Civics finished a massive 17 points behind them in second place.
The relegation battle went down to the wire and in the end the unlucky teams to be relegated were United Stars and Hotspurs. Hotspurs striker Richard Kavendji however completed an amazing achievement by finishing as the joint top goal scorer of the Premier League along with Black Africa’s Jerome Louis. Taking their place in the top flight are Tura Magic and Rundu Chiefs who are both promoted for the first time in their history.
In more soccer news, former Brave Warriors midfielder and captain Quinton Jacobs completed a great season in India when he helped his club Sikkim United gain promotion to the Indian Premier League. Shortly afterwards he was signed up by one of the top Indian clubs Salgocar, whom he will now represent in the I League as well as in the Asian Champions League. It’s a great achievement for Jacobs who showed that he still has a lot to offer at the age of 33. He also has some interesting things to say about the new Brave Warriors squad and the state of Namibian soccer in this month’s issue.
We also report on rugby, hockey, cycling and fencing among others, and now, with the Namibia Premier League having come to an end it is once again time to choose the FNB Player of the Season. We have selected 10 finalists, consisting of our seven monthly winners and three other players who excelled throughout the season. So enter the competition, support your favourite player, and you could win a gift hamper sponsored by FNB Namibia.
Till next time, enjoy the mag!
Helge Schutz