The national senior women’s team failed to realise its dream of competing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after finishing fifth on Saturday at the African Hockey Road to Paris 2024 qualifiers.
The championship, which served as a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, was held in Pretoria, South Africa, from 29 October to yesterday.
Namibia competed in the women’s category, featuring seven women’s teams, divided into pools A and B. The overall winner from the two pools secured a slot for the Olympic Games as an African representative.
Namibia was selected in Pool B, alongside Zambia, Kenya and Ghana.
During the pool matches, the Namibian team was unable to secure a win, ending up at the bottom of the group with zero points.
However, they managed to overcome Zimbabwe, who were also at the bottom of Pool A, on Thursday, and secured a play-off spot. They are set to play against Zambia in the fifth-place play-off match on Saturday.
In their final ranking game on Saturday, the Namibian team managed to get the better of their opponent, Zambia, who defeated them in their second match at the competition in Pool B.
Namibia lost 2-3 against Zambia in the pool games – but this time around, they managed to score three goals with their opponents, failing to find the back of the net.
Their goals came from Jahntwa Kruger, who opened the scoring in the eighth minute, and scored his second in the fourth quarter in the 46th minute, while Charlize Rix scored the other goal for Namibia in the 19th minute of the game.
The win meant Namibia finished fifth, Zambia sixth and Zimbabwe seventh.
Yesterday, the women’s category at the championship was set to feature a play-off between Kenya and Ghana for third and fourth place, while South Africa and Nigeria were to compete for the top position at the 2023 African Hockey Road to Paris finals. – Nampa