Windhoek
Namibia’s veteran middle distance runner Daniel Nghipandulwa is a bitter man. The current 800m national record
holder has poured his heart out to New Era Sport following his apparent axing from representing his motherland at the 11th edition of the quadrennial multi-sports All Africa Games, underway in Brazzaville. He says he has been inundated with questions as to why he is not with the Namibian athletics team at the games.
“I want people to know and understand that I’m not part of the administration in Namibian sports; I’m just an ordinary athlete, so people must contact Athletics Namibia (AN) or the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) for answers,” said Nghipandulwa.
The disgruntled athlete expressed unhappiness and disappointment with the manner in which he was left out of the
travelling entourage to Congo. “Fair play is a word that does certainly not exist in the vocabulary of Namibian
sports administrators. I don’t know why people are constantly fighting for leadership positions – only to advance the cause of average athletes, who have never won any high-profile competitions.”
The furious athlete says some of the athletes included in the team for the All Africa Games have never won a single race in their lives, let alone at school level. “I fail to understand how they were chosen to compete at such an august event. As it stands, I’m the best in the 800m race and have always finished in the top five in most races internationally.” Despite the setback, Nghipandulwa remains positive and is currently training in Asia with the hope to qualify for Rio 2016.