WINDHOEK – The 4th edition of the elite indoor hockey tournament of the Namibian Hockey Union (NHU) for Premier League teams kicked off at the Walvis Bay indoor sports complex last Saturday, where a total of 10 teams, four women and six men took part.
In their opening match on Saturday morning, the Unam women’s team received a wake-up call when they were thumped 4-0 By Wanderers. Juane Louw caused most of the damage in that game with a hat-trick. In their second game Unam redeemed themselves with a well-deserved 2-1 victory over Swakopmund-based outfit Coastal Raiders, with Kleintjie Beukes and Lidia Simon on target for Unam. In their final group game, Unam demonstrated their dominance after recording another victory against Windhoek Old Boys, with Esther Beukes and Angie Kuvare scoring to help the students to a 2-0 victory.
They advanced and met Wanderers in the final, a team that had beat them earlier but this time coach Joe Kashamako was not going to have any of that as his charges started on a high note and drew first blood when Esther Beukes scored after a good combination with her teammates. But Wanderers refused to stay on the back foot and equalized just before the break through Juane Louw.
The second half was tightly contested and Wanderers started showing signs of fatigue as the students pressed forward with their sights set firmly on the prize. Unam’s efforts finally paid off when Angie Kuvare scored from a well-taken short corner with five minutes to play. The students defended very well and made sure they held on until the final whistle. They walked away with the winner’s prize of N$1500.
Meanwhile, the Windhoek Old Boys won the men’s section when they defeated DTS 9-5 in the final. The last event of the elite indoor tournament will be hosted by DTS this coming weekend in Windhoek. Both Unam men and women’s teams are preparing to compete at the 2014 Easter Weekend tournament in April 18-20 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they will be competing against top South African clubs.
By Staff Reporter