Windhoek
The Namibian Sevens rugby team is struggling to make its presence felt at the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa, managing just one victory out of three matches played on Tuesday.
The team, coached by Patrick Ludick, lost to England in their opening clash of the
day, though the Namibians played well, pushing their opponents all the way, but it wasn’t
enough, as England registered a 17 – 5 win on the day Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning UK monarch.
In the following match, the Namibian youngsters were overwhelmed by southern African
neighbours South Africa. Fielding arguably the strongest squad of the tourney besides Australia, the junior Springbok Sevens raced to a 46:0 victory.
Despite the disappointing defeat, the Namibians picked themselves up and won their last encounter 33 – 0 against Singapore.
In other action, Namibian swimmers continued to manufacture promising results, but medals remained elusive despite Zanre Oberholzer coming closest with a commendable 6th place finish over the 200m backstroke.
She clocked in at 2:19.09 minutes. Gold went to Bobbi Gichard (2:10.87) of New Zealand, with South African Nathania van Niekerk finishing 2nd followed by Australian Elyse Woods (2:15:13).
In the same discipline, Lushano Lamprecht claimed 9th overall place in 2:09.64. The
fastest male swimmer of the day was Tristan Ludlow of Australia (2:01:46). Northern Ireland’s Conor Ferguson (2:03:90) and Neil Fair of South Africa (2:03:93) trailed in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.