By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Namibia will dispatch four strong teams to this year’s Inline Hockey World Championships to be held at Palais des Sports André Brouat in Toulouse, France, starting on June 29. Namibia will be Africa’s sole representative at the global event.
The Namibian Ice and Inline Hockey Association (NIIHA) passed the four teams fit and well prepared and includes both junior and senior men teams and junior women and senior teams.
Each team consists of four players and a goal tender. In accordance with the rules of FIRS (Fédération Internationalede Roller Sports) each team is limited to a maximum of 14 players.
The Namibian team is a composition of players from the five clubs registered and operative in the country, namely, Cazadores, Kamikaze, Badgers (both Windhoek), Scorpions (Otjiwarongo) and Coastal Pirates (Swakopmund).
The travelling entourage will be accompanied to France by the association secretary, Ulrich Thude, who intends to lobby the international community for the world championships to be hosted in Swakopmund in 2016. The private sector in the town has invested thousands of dollars for the erection of a world-class sports facility ideal for inline hockey.
Namibia is ranked 16th out of 18 competing inline hockey-playing nations and is the only country on the African continent with a world-class team. Namibia has over 600 registered players in different age groups (up to 70 years old).
Known as a minority, prestige sport locally, inline hockey has grown tremendously in appeal throughout the world since its humble beginnings in 1993, when inline skates were first introduced to inline hockey players, instead of the slower, hugely popular quad roller-skates (four wheels) of the time.
For regular updates on Namibia’s progress and performance at the 2014 Inline Hockey World Championships, go to the NIIHA page on Facebook: