Namibia’s junior hockey teams won three gold and three silver medals at the annual Tri-Nations Hockey tournament which recently took place in Harare, Zimbabwe. Namibia’s U16 boys and girls team and their U14 boys’ team won gold medals, while Namibia’s U14 girls’ team narrowly lost out on another gold medal after losing 2-1 to Zimbabwe in the final.
Namibia’s U18 teams however struggled and were soundly beaten by their Zimbabwean counterparts.
Zimbabwe and Namibia were tied with three gold medals each while Botswana returned home empty handed.
A total of 96 junior hockey players represented Namibia at the annual development tournament.
Namibia’s best performances came from their U16 girls team who thrashed Botswana 11-0 and beat Zimbabwe A 3-2 to claim the gold medal.
Namibia’s U16 boys’ team beat Zimbabwe B 2-0, Botswana 3-0 and Zimbabwe A 2-1 to claim the gold medal.
Namibia’s U14 boys’ team comfortably beat Zimbabwe 3-0 and 5-0, and Zimbabwe U13 4-1, before being held to a goalless draw by Zimbabwe U13 in their final match.
Namibia’s U18 teams however struggled, with the boys losing 2-0 to Zimbabwe B and 2-1 and 5-1 to Zimbabwe A, while the girls lost 2-0 and 4-0 to Zimbabwe.
“If their somewhat lukewarm showing is anything to go by, both Namibia’s U18 teams need to jack up their act if they are to make any impact at the 2010 SADC tournament to be hosted by Namibia in August. The gap between the Namibian U/18’s and their Zimbabwean counterparts was shown to be worlds apart and the Namibian Hockey Union will certainly have to dig deeper to narrow the gap,” said Unam hockey coach Erwin Handura.
“Botswana struggled to stamp their authority on the tournament and a lot of hard work lies ahead if they are to become a major force to be reckoned with in Southern African hockey,” he added.
Here are the full results:
Friday, August 28
Boys U16: Namibia 2 Zimbabwe B 0
Girls U16: Namibia 3 Zimbabwe A 2
Saturday August 29
Boys U16: Namibia 3 Botswana 0
Boys U18: Namibia 0 Zimbabwe B 2
Boys U14: Namibia 4 Zimbabwe U13 1
Boys U18: Namibia 1 Zimbabwe 2
Boys U14: Namibia 3 Zimbabwe 0
Girls U16: Namibia 11 Botswana 0
Girls U14: Namibia 1 Zimbabwe U13 0
Girls U18: Namibia 0 Zimbabwe 2
Girls U16: Namibia 0 Zimbabwe B 0
Girls U14: Namibia 2 Zimbabwe B 0
Sunday, August 30
Girls U18: Namibia 0 Zimbabwe A 4
Girls U14: Namibia 1 Zimbabwe A 2
Boys U16: Namibia 2 Zimbabwe A 1
Boys U18: Namibia 1 Zimbabwe A 5
Boys U14: Namibia 5 Zimbabwe 0
Boys U14: Namibia 0 Zimbabwe U13 0
Overall Winners:
U14 Boys - Namibia
U14 Girls - Zimbabwe
U16 Boys & Girls - Namibia
U18 Boys & Girls - Zimbabwe