WINDHOEK – Last weekend’s Bank Windhoek Fistball League playoffs, staged at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) grounds, saw two of Cohen Fistball Clubs (CFC), Cohen 1 and Cohen 3, outclassing their opponents to be crowned champions in the National A and B leagues, respectively.
Hosts and reigning champions, SKW 1 came up against 4th seeded CFC 2 in the National A League’s first semifinal and from the onset, Imwawida started off the stronger side dominating the contest without giving their opponents a chance to execute their tactics. The Germans eventually triumphed 3:0.
CFC 1 and SKW 2 locked horns with each other in the second semifinal and Cohen 1, who only had four players to field, found themselves trailing 7:3 against their hosts in the opening set.
Momentum later shifted towards CFC 1 boosted by their main attacker, Rico-Kühnle Kreitz and as a result, they caught up with their opponents – surpassing them to win the tie 12:10. In the remaining two sets, CFC 1 kept their form cruising through to manufacture a comfortable score line of 3:0 in their favour.
In the match for 3rd place playoff, CFC 2 caught SKW 2 on the back foot to secure the first set but Imwaida gallantly fought back to win 4:1.
Old foes CFC 1 and SKW 1 were pitted against each other in the final match with the youthful Cohen squad starting the match better as they earned a three-point lead. However, Imawida reduced the deficit though CFC 1 remained stubborn, winning the first set 12:10.
In the next two sets, Imawida struggled to break CFC 1’s solid and compact team resistance as the flawless build-up and efficient conversion by the Cohen attackers resulted in an impressive 4:0 victory over the out-of-sorts Germans.
In other action, Swakopmund Fussball Club (SFC) fashioned a 3:0 win over CFC 4 in the first semifinal in the National B League while CFC 3 came up against Deutscher Turn und Sportverein (DTS) in the other semifinal.
DTS put up a solid display but in the end, it was CFC 3 who reached the final with a 3:1 victory against their neigbours after a hard-fought match. In the meantime, DTS tasted success after they defeated CFC 4 in the 3rd place contest.
As it turned out, the final match lived up to expectations with SFC, who arrived in the city of bright lights with only four players for the semifinals, putting up an exciting battle against CFC 3.
And as the match progressed, CFC 3 secured the first set just before the visitors’ Torben Winterbach put the seasiders in the driving seat. The latter tactically responded and levelled the score line before going on to win the 5th and 6th sets for a final score of 4:2.
That result meant both Cohen teams came out tops against all SKW teams in both the National A and B divisions. Rico-Kühnle Kreitz from CFC 1 walked away with the Player of the Day award after helping his team put up an exceptional performance in the playoffs.
The next fistball tournament is slated for Saturday, 3rd of November at DTS fields, Windhoek.