Inline Hockey

Namibian inline hockey teams excelled at the recent Hong Kong Inline Hockey Cup, winning one gold, one silver and one bronze medal.

The competition, which is the largest invitational tournament in Asia, took place from November 17 to 27 and Namibia was represented by two federation and two club teams.

Namibia excelled in the Women’s Open category where they won both the gold and the silver medal, after the two club sides Coastal Pirates and the Badgers progressed to the final.

Coastal Pirates dominated the All Namibian Inline Hockey Championships held in Swakopmund over the weekend when they won nine of the 10 categories.

The top scorer of the tournament was Hans Christian Diekman from Scorpions who scored nine of his team’s 21 goals in the 12 and under division and eight in the 14 and under division. He was followed by Nicholas Woolf from Pirates who had a total of 12 goals (six in the 12 and under and six in the 14 and under divisions) and Sebastian Pahl (9) from Pirates who was playing in the 18 and under division.

Three Namibian teams will participate at the Hong Kong Inline Cup from 17 to 27 November.

The U14 Namibian Cheetahs, the U18 Namibian Lions and the Namibian Badgers (women) will participate which will see teams from 13 other countries participating.

A fundraising Wine Auction was held recently for the U18 Namibian Lions team and N$75 000 was raised.

The tournament will be for the U10, U14, U18, senior women and senior men.

The other countries expected to take part are Britain, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, USA, Hong Kong, Brazil, Iran, India, Macau and Australia.

Namibia finished 14th out of 18 nations at the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships after losing 3-0 to Columbia in their final play-off match on Saturday.

Leading up to the game, Namibia had won three of their six games, while the winner of their match against Columbia would earn 13th spot, and the loser 14th, out of a field of 18 competing teams.

On paper, the teams appeared evenly matched, as in their six previous matches, Namibia had scored a total of 25 goals, but conceded an equal amount.  In contrast, Columbia had scored 23 goals, but also conceded 23 goals.

Namibia beat Venezuela 3-1 to advance to the 13th position play-off at the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships in Italy on Friday morning.
 
Team Namibia skated onto the rink to once again prove their dominance over Venezuela, after they had beaten them 8-1 earlier in the competition. Namibia had most of the early possession, but it was Venezuela who struck first after a counterattack saw them taking the lead on 16:46.

Spain beat Namibia 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the Country Cup competition at the FIRS Inline Hockey World Championships in Roccarasso, Italy on Thursday.

The game against Spain marked the first time ever that the Namibia Men’s inline hockey team had advanced to a quarterfinal level in a world championship competition. 

Namibia’s small squad of 11 players was pitted against a larger and more experienced Spanish national team, with the winning team set to advance to the medal round of the Country Cup. The stakes were high, as were emotions on both sides.

Namibia beat Venezuela 8-1 at the FIRS World Inline Hockey Championships on Wednesday, to finish third in Group D.

The starting line for Team Namibia was Quintin Kotze in centre, Otwin Förster and Dominic Denker on the wings and Lars Dobberstein in defence. Oliver Jooste guarded the Namibian net.

As the two centre players brought down their stick to secure the puck for their respective sides, the Kotze’s stick snapped in two, forcing him to immediately rush back to the bench.

Team Namibia recorded their first win at the FIRS Inline Hockey Championships in Italy when they beat China 12-2 on Tuesday morning, but a few hours later they were beaten 9-1 by Australia.

Against China, Namibia began with Stefan Ihms in centre, Dominic Denker and Lars Dobberstein on the wings, Ulfried Cramer in the goal, and Marco Debortoli in defence. 

Team Namibia took the face-off and circled into the Chinese side, looking to assert itself with a quick goal.   Despite a barrage of shots, it took more than four minutes before Namibia drew first blood.

Team Namibia lined up at noon on Monday to face its first opponent at the FIRS Senior Men’s World Inline Hockey Championships in Rocarraso, Italy – the number one seed of Group D, Great Britain.  The line was anchored by goalkeeper Oliver Jooste, and backed by Zaid Ely, Michael Falk, Riyaan Ely and Otti Förster.

Great Britain won the face-off and set up, with their four players circling into Namibia’s defensive area to build up their first attack on the Namibian goal. Both teams were determined to show their dominance on court.

Coastal Pirates beat Kamikaze 3-0 to win the Cazadores Inline Hockey Tournament that finished on Sunday in Windhoek.

Coastal Pirates managed to keep a clean slate as a result of their industrious national team goalkeeper, Oliver Jooste.

Cazadores came third after they lost the semi final to Kamikaze.

Coastal Pirates also beat Cazadores in two other categories, winning the U18 final 4-0 and the U14 final 2-1.

In the senior category, Cazadores got the better of the Coastal Pirates who they beat 4-3 in the final.

In the masters category, Kamikaze beat Coastal Pirates 4-2.