Erwin Handura, the head coach of the women’s national hockey team, yesterday said the just ended hockey Test series has assisted them in gauging their readiness for the much-anticipated hockey world cup.
The tournament was held at the Windhoek Showground, in the capital. It was organised by the Namibia Hockey Union (NHU) as part of their world cup preparations rollout. The women’s team did tremendously well by winning two matches, losing one and claiming two draws.
Speaking after the final women’s match yesterday, Handura explained how important is the tournament in terms of their preparation for the upcoming world cup in South Africa, saying it enormously helped the team to weigh their strength and readiness.
Handura added that although he is happy with the overall readiness of the team, he would like the team to play various test games ahead of the tournament.
“It was a great initiative from the federation, we needed this test game, as it helped us a lot in terms of gauging ourself as a team. We have a plan of doing great at the world cup and for us to go as further as we want, it would mean that we have to compete against the best in our preparations,” he said.
“I am happy with the mental and physical readiness of the team, although we still have a lot to do ahead of the world cup, we would like to have test matches in Europe with various countries in there so we know where we need to work on,” he added.
Also speaking at the same event was Namibia’s long serving player Megreth Mengo who said the tournament was a great test for them as players as it showed them where they need to improve before the world cup.
“It was a phenomenal tournament, with great competition. It helped us a lot in terms of getting to see how ready we are for the world cup. I think despite a great performance, I believe we still have a lot to work on before the competition,” she said
Action commenced on Friday, with the women’s team taking to the court, which saw Namibia ladies taking on South Africa, in a match that Namibia easily won 2-0. The men’s team then followed in, which saw Namibia’s men prevail as winners with a score of 6-5.
On Saturday, action begun with an encounter between the ladie’s team where Namibia earned a victory over the neighbour with a score of 2-1, while the men’s team played to a 6-all draw.
In the third test match of the men’s, Namibia suffered a 7-3 loss at the hands of the South Africa men’s team. Meanwhile, the women’s team played to a 2-all draw on Saturday. In the men’s fourth test match, South Africa’s men didn’t show any sign of slowing down as they put Namibia to a sword with a 7-3 score. While the women’s match ended in a 4-all draw. In yesterday’s game, the women’s took to the court in the match that Namibia lost 1-0 while in the final men’s encounter, South Africa prevailed as winner when they won 6-3.
- mkambukwe@nepc.com.na