Commonwealth Games

Team Namibia returned home on Saturday from New Delhi where they participated in the just ended Commonwealth Games.

The head of delegation Elize Petersen was very pleased with how the Namibian team handled themselves on and off the field.

“I regard the participation of Namibia as a huge success and the athletes performed to the best of their abilities,” Petersen said.

“The Namibian team displayed character and commitment from day one,” she added.

Jafet Uutoni won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games after losing the final of the 48kg Light Flyweight category 8-4 on points against Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland. Uutoni gave a good account of himself and was by far the most aggressive boxer, but Barnes fought a good tactical fight and defended superbly. Uutoni struggled to find a way past his defence, while Barnes was quick on the counterattack and often landed blows after Uutoni had exposed himself.

Gaby Ahrens won Namibia’s second medal at the Commonwealth Games when she came third in the Women’s Singles Trap shooting event on Saturday.

Anita North of England won the gold medal with a score of 93, with Shona Marshall of Scotland winning the silver medal with a score of 91 and Ahrens winning bronze with a score of 88.

It was a great comeback by Ahrens, who earlier finished sixth in the qualification round to make it through to the last eight final.

Namibia’s boxers continued to shine at the Commonwealth Games on Friday as all three boxers in action won their fights to progress to the quarterfinals. Mejandjae Kasuto, Elias Nashivela and Tobias Munihango all won their fights and will be joined in the quarterfinals by Jafet Uutoni who won on Thursday and Sakaria Lukas who received a first round bye.

Johanna Benson won Namibia’s first medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, when she finished third in the final of the Women’s 100m T37 race for disabled athletes on Thursday.

Benson clinched the bronze medal after finishing third in a time of 14,81 seconds. Katrina Hart of England won the gold medal with a time of 14,36, while Jenny McLoughlin of Wales won the silver medal in a time of 14,68 seconds.

Benson’s success at the Commonwealth Games caps a great year during which she excelled on the African continent.

Namibian welterweight boxer Mejandjae Kasuto won his first fight at the Commonwealth Games in spectacular style on Wednesday when he knocked out his South African opponent Siphiwe Lusizi in the third round.

The knockout came just in time as Kasuto was behind on points and in danger of losing the fight.

According to the official scorecard, the boxers were level at one-all at the end of the first round, but Lusizi streaked into the lead after winning the second round 6-3.

After some great performances on Monday, Namibian athletes came down to earth and found the going tough in Tuesday’s competition at the Commonwealth Games.

On Monday, Namibia’s bowls players beat highly rated teams like New Zealand and Canada, but on Tuesday they lost most of their matches.

Namibia’s Women’s Pairs team of Diana Viljoen and Theuna Grobler won one and lost one match.

They lost their first encounter 1.5-0.5 to New Zealand (8-8, 14-2), but then beat Zambia 1.5-0.5 in their second match (7-7, 11-5).

Namibia’s bowlers got off to a great start at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi on Monday as they won all their matches against strong opposition.

Namibia’s Men’s Trips team of Graham Snyman, Steven Peake and Will Esterhuizen junior displayed nerves of steel to win two tiebreak matches and beat highly rates New Zealand and Canada.

Against Canada, Namibia won the first set 9-5, but Canada recovered to take the second set by the same scoreline. The match had to be decided on a tiebreak and Namibia finished strongly to win 5-0.

Namibian gymnast, Robert Honiball has qualified for the final of the All Around Men's competition after finishing 23rd overall in the qualifying competition on Monday. He however failed to reach any of the apparatus finals.

Honiball finished 23rd overall to clinch a place amongst the top 24 gymnasts who will compete in the All Around Men's final. Honiball finished with a total score of 74.550.

Joshua Jefferis of Australia finished first overall with a score of 85.350, followed by Reiss Beckford of England on 84.550 and Luke Folwell of England on 84.350.

Namibia Sport will bring you profiles of the athletes who will represent Namibia at the Commonwealth Games, which are scheduled to start on Sunday 3 October in New Delhi.

Namibia has a team of 30 athletes from 8 different sport codes who will be taking part in the Games.

Here are the profiles of the Shooting team.

Gielie van Wyk

Gielie van Wyk only started shooting in 2006 but soon made his mark.
In 2009 he won his first national title and by the end of the year had established himself as Namibia’s top male shooter.