Fistball

The Namibian Under 18 Fistball Team finished fifth at the fourth U18 Fistball World Cup in Lloret de Mar, Spain over the weekend.

In their first match they faced Brazil and lost the match in two straight sets (11-5, 11-4). Namibia went on to lose their next three matches. They won the first set 11-0 against Austria, but lost the match 2-1. They were also beaten by Switzerland (2-0) and Chile (2-0) on the opening day of the tournament on July 22.

Launch of fundraising initiative announced

A successful year concluded for Namibian Fistball on Saturday when the National Cup was hosted at the SFC Sport Club in Swakopmund - the same place at which the Fistball World converged in January this year to determine the best youth teams in the world. At the cup competition over the weekend, two categories were in action – the A category for more advanced teams, and the B category for social, youth and ladies teams.

By Christiaan Knobloch

There were no surprises at the play offs for the Namibian Fistball league championships with the favourites taking the titles in the National A and B league on Saturday 26 September. Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) 1 were the worthy winners in the top Namibian league while Cohen Fistball Club (CFC) 3 trounced their opponents to win the National B league.

Germany and Austria were crowned the men and women´s champions at the Fistball Youth World Cup in Swakopmund on Sunday, while Namibia´s men ´s team finished sixth and their women fifth.

Namibia´s men´s team first lost their quarterfinal encounter 3-1 against Austria before coming up against Chile in the fifth place playoff match.

Namibia had beaten Chile 3-0 in their first pool match but this time Chile prevailed in an exciting five setter. Chile won the first two sets before Namibia staged a great comeback to draw level.

Namibia continued to struggle at the Fistball Youth World Cup on Friday with its men and women´s teams losing both their matches against Switzerland and Germany.

Germany 3 Namibia 0 – men (11-5, 11-7, 11-4)

Namibia´s men were thoroughly beaten by the favourites Germany. Germany took an early 5-^1 lead in the first set but Namibia did well to reduce the gap to 6-4. Germany however stepped up the pressure to easily win the set 11-5.

Namibia found the going tough on the second day of the Youth Fistball World Cup with both the men and women`s teams losing to Austria.

Namibia 1 Austria 3

Namibia`s men`s team put up a great fight before losing 3-1 to Austria. After a furious start Namibia took a 3-1 lead in the first set. Namibian spiker Viggo von Scheliha made his mark with some hard hitting shots but not much separated the sides as they drew level at 6-all. Austria took a 9-8 lead and called for a time out which worked to their advantage as they won the first set 11-8.

Namibia’s men’s team pulled off a great 3-0 victory against Chile at the Fistball Youth World Cup which started in Swakopmund on Thursday.
Namibia were soundly beaten by Brazil in their opening match but then regrouped and produced a great team effort to record their first victory against Chile.
Namibia’s women’s team lost their opening match 3-0 to Brazil.

Namibia 3 Chile 0

Playing in windy conditions, both teams displayed great defensive play, but Namibia, playing at a high tempo, broke through to take a 2-0 lead.

Youth World Cup

By Christiaan Knobloch

Sport fanatics visiting Swakopmund this holiday season can look forward to something special. Players from Germany, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland, Chile and Namibia will make the SFC sport grounds the centre of the fistball universe for a couple of days when they take each other on to determine the winners of the boys and girls Fistball Youth World Cup. The event is scheduled to start on January 1, 2009 with the finals taking place on January 4.

Cohen Fistball Clubâ??s U18 side beat SKW A U18 recently to win the National Under 18 league title after the final round of club matches.
The Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) had already secured the championship in the national Fistball A and B Leagues before the final round of games on Saturday 15 September 2007. Things were however not yet decided in the U18 league.

Namibia ended eighth overall at the Fistball World Championships in Germany after losing their last match in the seventh and eighth playoff 2-0 (20:14, 20:12) to Italy on Sunday.

â??It was a huge disappointment for us as our goal was to finish fifth or sixth," national coach Harald Fulle said.