WINDHOEK – It was a successful weekend for SKW in the Bank Windhoek National Fistball Championship as Imawida secured the titles in both the national A and B leagues.
Reigning champions SKW 1 had their work cut out in the final of the national A league when they came up against kid brother, SKW 2, in what turned out to be a thrilling final at the DTS sport fields.
SKW 2 went into the final with a convincing 4:0 set win under their belt against Cohen FC 1 in the qualification match on Saturday morning, while SKW 1 had already qualified for the final after finishing first during the preliminary round in the national A league.
Uner-18 national team player, Rico Kühnle-Kreitz, immediately piled the pressure on the defence of SKW 1 with some hard and precise spikes during the first set. SKW 1 narrowly won the set by 13:11 points.
After SKW 2 equalised by winning the second set, a balanced game developed and with the scoreboard at 3:3 sets, SKW 1 finally managed a breakthrough by taking a 4:3 set lead and a 6:0 points lead in the final and decisive set.
SKW 2’s efforts to regain their composure were dealt a blow when their inspirational captain had to leave the field for treatment to an injury. He later returned to action but could not prevent defeat. Cohen FC 1 secured 3rd pplace – defetaing SFC 1 in another exciting match by 4:2 sets.
Cohen FC 3 started the day as outright favourites to retain the national B league championship, after qualifying for the final by virtue of finishing first in the preliminary round with a nine-point advantage over 2nd placed DTS.
Cohen FC 1 started the final game against SKW 3, strongly winning the first set by 11:3 points. SKW 3 regrouped however and won the second set to equalise the scores. After Cohen FC 3 dominated the next set SKW 3 spiker, Gernot Helm, moved into defence due to an injury he sustained and was replaced by the evergreen Uwe Traupe upfront.
The move proved worthwhile for SKW 3 as Helm put in a solid performance in defence while Traupe’s spikes troubled Cohen FC 3 to such an extent that the next four sets went the way of SKW 3, who won the match by 2:5 sets. DTS made use of the home ground advantage to win by 4:2 sets against SFC 2 and take third place.
Christoph Kubirske was named player of the day, after his inspiring performance in the Bank Windhoek national A league final.
The fistball season will end on 1 November in Swakopmund, where the newly crowned league champions have the opportunity to add more silverware to their trophy cabinets. The Namibian Fistball Cup competition will be played on that day in Swakopmund.