Hilma Nalupe 

South Africa’s indoor women’s hockey team brought an end to Namibia’s winning run at the Nkosi Cup after edging them 4-3 in a tightly contested group stage match played yesterday in Cape Town. 

Prior to the encounter, Namibia had performed well in the tournament, having won two matches. The defeat to South Africa marks their third outing and their only loss of the competition so far. 

Speaking after the first match against South Africa, Namibian women’s head coach Shayne Cormack reflected on the tactical adjustments made during the game, saying: “We did drop into a bit of a negative press just to settle the nerves, but it didn’t pay off so well. We tried different presses throughout the match, a dominant press in the first half and then a full press towards the end, and I’m confident that with our full press we can get better outcomes.” 

Namibia faced South Africa again in the semi-finals at 16h00 yesterday, but the results were not available at the time of going to print. Cormack believed there was room for improvement ahead of the clash. 

“We know their patterns, and we’ll make sure our press is tighter. There are a few holes we need to fix if we want to win, and when we win the ball, we need to be quicker with our decision-making. It’s always an exciting game, and we’re in for a good contest,” she said. 

-hnalupe@nepc.com.na