As the curtain comes down on the year 2021, New Era Sport would like to take you, our esteemed reader, down memory lane as we reflect on all the good, the bad and the ugly of the local sports fraternity.

As has become customary, especially in cases where the good eclipses the bad and ugly, we will start our year-end review with the various achievements that dominated headlines on the local sporting arena in 2021, a very difficult year that was ravaged by the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Athletics

We start with the awe-inspiring performance of local sprint sensations Christine Mboma and her trusted ‘partner in crime’ Beatrice Masilingi, who both rewrote history with their consummate performances on the global stage.

The 18-year-old Mboma made history at this year’s Tokyo Olympics when she clocked a remarkable time of 21.81 seconds to scoop a silver medal in the women’s 200m race to become the first-ever Namibian woman to win an Olympic medal. 

With her silver medal win in Tokyo, Mboma also ended Namibia’s 25-year medal drought at the games, with the legendary Frank Fredericks the only other Namibian athlete to have won Olympic medals way back in 1996 during the Atlanta Olympics.

Her Tokyo Olympics feat saw her also becoming the youngest woman to win an individual flat sprint medal in 49 years, while her winning time also became a new national record for women’s 200m, a new African record for women’s 200m and new world record for U/20 women’s 200m.

Mboma further cemented her dominance on the global stage with another breath-taking performance at the Josef Odložil Memorial in Prague, Czech Republic, where she set a new personal best and meet record with her time of 22.67 seconds to win gold in the 200m.

She went on to clock 48.54 seconds in the 400m at the Irena Szewińska Memorial in Bydgoszcz, Poland, to shatter the 25-year record of 49.10 seconds set by Falilat Ogunkoya-Osheku in 1996, becoming the 7th fastest woman of all time in the event with the 12th fastest result ever.

She followed up on that success with another amazing performance at the Diamond League, winning the 200m event in a debut season with a time of 21.84 seconds, finishing ahead of America’s Sha’Carri Richardson and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.

Off the field, Mboma was also crowned as the Best Junior Female International Athlete of the Year at the 2021 Athletics Weekly Magazine Awards, and also dominated this year’s Namibia Annual Sport Awards (NASA), where she won the prestigious MTC/NASA Sports Star of the Year award, the MTC/NASA Junior Sportswoman of the Year accolade and the highly-coveted MTC/NASA Sportswoman of the Year award, walking away with N$350 000 in total prize money.

Her teammate Masilingi also enjoyed her great share of success on the international athletics circuit, which saw her finishing sixth overall in the final of the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics in a time of 22.28 seconds, which became her new personal best.

In April this year, she ran 22.72 seconds at the All Comers Meet in Lusaka, Zambia, to set a new personal best and Namibian record in the 200m. 

In June, Masilingi confirmed her form in Europe at the Kusociński Memorial in Chorzów, Poland - a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet – when she won the 400m race with a time of 49.88 seconds. 

Her remarkable performance saw her setting a stadium record, and her time was only 0.13 nanoseconds slower than the 1976 meet and world record time of 49.75 seconds set by Irena Szewińska many years ago.

Masilingi won a silver medal in the 100m and 200m at this year’s U/20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya.

A low moment for the local athletics fraternity was when the teens’ astounding rise was overshadowed by a dark cloud of prejudice and discrimination after global athletics governing body World Athletics announced that Mboma and Masilingi would not be allowed to compete under the female classification in events between 400m and one mile due to regulations on athletes with disorders of sex development (DSDs).

World Athletics claimed that Mboma and Masilingi had elevated testosterone levels, caused by a naturally occurring genetic condition. Both sprinters had been unaware of the condition prior to their evaluation during a training camp in Italy.

Hockey

Namibian hockey also dominated continental activities when the country’s senior women’s team defeated South Africa 2-0 in an exhilarating final to win this year’s Indoor Africa Cup at the Thomas More College in Kwazulu Natal to be crowned African champions for the second time in a row.

Not only was Namibia crowned African champions, but they also automatically qualified for next year’s Indoor Hockey World Cup to be held in Belgium, where they will be Africa’s only women’s team.

Namibia’s men’s hockey team had initially failed to qualify for the 2022 Indoor Hockey World Cup – but after Australia and New Zealand withdrew from the competition due to Covid-19 issues, the International Hockey Federation invited four more teams, and Namibia’s men were included in the line-up for next year’s Indoor Hockey World Cup.

A low and sad moment for hockey and the Namibian sport, in general, was the devastating passing of Namibia Hockey Federation president Marc Nel, who died this year from Covid-19 related illness. 

The late Nel, who took over as NHU president in 2015 and remained in that position until his death, was widely hailed for his visionary leadership that saw the union embark on a multi-million project to lay its artificial turf at the Doc Jubber fields in Olympia – a first of its kind of the NHU, and many other developmental projects.

Netball 

Despite facing the scourge of limited resources and inadequate facilities, Netball Namibia (NN) this year continued to make great strides on and off the courts. NN’s vice president Rebekka /Goagoses was this year elected to serve as Africa Netball’s new vice president for development, an opportunity she said will help Namibia greatly in further developing the game locally.

NN also surprised all when it successfully hosted two major international events in a space of a week, first hosting the 2021 Debmarine Pent Series outdoor at the Israel Patrick Iyambo Police College and then the Africa Cup at the Wanderers Sports Club indoor facility. NN equally continues to make great inroads on the administrative side of things.

Cricket

Namibia’s cricket side, the Eagles, made history when they reached the ICC T20 World Cup Super 12 stage at the first time of asking. Namibia had earlier beaten powerhouses Netherlands and Ireland to reach the Super 12 category of the ICC World Cup, which also saw them automatically qualifying for the next ICC World Cup. 

Rugby 

Namibia’s rugby 15s, the Welwitschias, solidified their march towards the 2023 Rugby World Cup by winning the 2021 edition of the Stellenbosch Rugby Challenge in South Africa. Namibia is fighting against the likes of Zimbabwe and Kenya for a spot at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The Welwitschias used the Stellenbosch event as a preparatory tournament for next year’s final round of qualifiers for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The Stellenbosch Rugby Challenge is sanctioned by World Rugby, and also contributes to the participants’ overall world rankings.

Football

Local football news this year dominated the back pages for all the wrong reasons, ranging from infighting among the administrators to the non-payment of national team players as well as the cunning dismissal of the entire executive committee of the Namibia Football Association (NFA).

The NFA’s boardroom wrangles are well documented and well within the public domain, and how those infightings have disrupted the performance of the various national teams is equally well documented. 

Namibia’s men and women’s teams are currently sitting with zero chances of qualifying to all the next continental and international major events. The Brave Warriors are still without a substantive head coach and the NFA itself is without any leadership in place, following the removal of the executive committee, including president Ranga Haikali.

Almost all national team players are still unpaid for services rendered during the various continental and international qualifying events. NFA secretary general Franco Cosmos is currently doubling as head of the FA’s secretariat and executive. 

The only positive football news was from beyond Namibian borders, with the likes of Peter Shalulile, Deon Hotto, Ryan Nyambe and Zenatha Coleman all making waves for their respective clubs.

Shalulile, who has been on an unparalleled goal-scoring run with club Mamelodi Sundowns, was this year crowned the South African Professional Soccer League (PSL) Footballer of the Season and Player’s Player of the Season at the 2020/21 PSL Awards.

Hotto remains in top form and a pivotal cog in the Orlando Pirates setup, while Nyambe continues with his great run at English club Blackburn Rovers and Coleman this year continue to bring the shine at Spanish club Sevilla FC.

Boxing

Local boxing has also set the scene alight with well-organised events, which saw the country’s various rising stars being crown continental champions in a raft of weight categories. Mateus ‘The Beast Heita defeated Zimbabwe’s Tinashe Mwadziwana to be crowned the new WBA Pan African Super Bantamweight champion, while youngster Martin ‘Alegator’ Mukungu defeated compatriot Immanuel Jason to become a national featherweight champion.

Veteran boxer Lukas ‘The Demolisher’ Ndafoluma, unfortunately, lost his WBO Africa middleweight title to South Africa’s Nkululeko Mhlongo, while the likes of Nathaniel Kakololo, Albinus Felesianu and Immanuel Josef and many others all recorded great wins over foreign opponents.

Tennis

Namibian tennis star Connor van Schalkwyk closed off the year on a high note when he qualified for the 2022 edition of the Australian Open Junior Championships – which is a first for Namibia. 

Allow us once again to take this opportunity to wish you, our esteemed readers, advertisers and all stakeholders a Merry Christmas and Prosperous 2022!