With the African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games barely two months away, local organising committee (LOC) chairperson Freddy Mwiya says preparations for the youth competition are at an advanced stage.
The biennial games will this year take place in Maseru, Lesotho from 3-12 December. The event could not be staged last year, because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which continues to affect many activities around the globe.
Namibia will this year send a team of 124 athletes and officials for track and field (including athletes with disabilities), basketball, tennis and volleyball.
Mwiya, who is also the Namibia Sports Commission chief administrator and chair of the LOC, said they have already finalised the team that is going to represent Namibia at the youth event, and also submitted the number of athletes to the games’ organisers.
He explained that another reason for entering individual sports codes is because they believe Namibians are good in those areas.
“We decided to enter most of our athletes in individual codes, because we are good in those codes and we can win more medals in those respective categories,” he said.
Nguvitjita Hinda, who is tasked to take care of the tennis team, told New Era Sport the hot weather is making training difficult.
“The challenge that we have is the weather; it’s very hot and that has an impact on our training, but apart from that I am totally satisfied with the way the guys are reacting to the training,” he said.
Hinda added that they conduct training mostly on weekends, and the guys are showing strength during training sessions.
“I love the spirit the guys have and I think we will do well in Maseru,” he noted.
The games were previously held in Botswana in 2018, while the next edition of the event will be held in Malawi in 2022.