As the curtain comes down on the year 2022, 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 tradition, especially in cases where the good eclipses the bad and ugly, we will start off our year-end review with the many achievements and milestones that dominated local and international headlines during 2022.
Cricket
Cricket Namibia (CN) has been one of the biggest pacesetters for the year, which saw the country’s senior men’s team put up a courageous performance at this year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
The Richelieu Eagles delivered some great performances against world cricket heavyweights, such as Sri Lanka, Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, although they failed to reach the Super 12 stage this time around.
Developmental efforts remained well on course at CN, with the introduction of various youth leagues and coaching camps across the country.
Namibia was rewarded by the International Cricket Council (ICC) with two awards for its various development programmes: the Development Initiative of the Year award and Associate Member Men’s Performance of the Year.
CN has been working towards the vision to be an inclusive Namibian sport of choice, as 67 000 children across the country have been exposed to the game of cricket through the Ashburton Kwata Cricket programme, and many of those children have now become part of the cricket dream.
The ICC also announced this year that Namibia have been awarded the rights to co-host two World Cups – the ICC U/19 Men’s World Cup in 2026 and the ICC Men’s World Cup in 2027.
Hockey
The country’s hockey fraternity has equally been well on the rise this year – both in the region and continent. Yesterday, the country’s senior Hockey5s team defeated Zambia 2-1 in the women’s final of the 2022 Hockey5s African Cup to be crowned the continent’s new champions in Ismailia, Egypt.
The 2022 Hockey5s African Cup also serves as the continent’s qualifier for the Hockey5s World Cup, scheduled for Muscat, Oman, in 2024.
Women’s hockey has generally seen great growth this year, especially in the Bank Windhoek-sponsored leagues, which continue to serve as a great feeder system to the national teams.
In inline hockey, Namibia have also taken giant leaps on the international front after the country won gold at this year’s World Junior Inline Hockey World Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after they outsmarted the USA 9-1 in the final.
The Namibia Hockey Union this year also hosted a test series, which saw Namibia’s women underpin their status as Africa’s top-ranked team by winning their five-match series 2-1 against South Africa.
The future of Namibian hockey looks bright and with enough support and sustained international participation, the country’s men’s and women’s teams will remain forces to be reckoned with for years to come.
Rugby
The country’s rugby 15s – the Welwitschias – delivered a masterpiece to beat Kenya 36-0 in the final of the 2022 Rugby Africa Cup to secure their place at a seventh successive Rugby World Cup. That victory ensured Namibia will return to France next year for the Rugby World Cup, where they will take their place in Pool A as Africa 1.
As part of their preparations for next year’s World Cup, the Welwitschias recently embarked on a European Tour, where they faced Canada and Spain. Although they lost to Spain in the tour’s opener, the Welwitschias bounced back with a historic first-ever 43-37 victory over Canada in Amsterdam, Holland.
That win set the mood high ahead of next year’s World Cup, and coach Allister Coetzee and his charges will be looking to build on the success of the recent European Tour.
Boxing
Local boxers also gave a good account of themselves this year, which saw boxers, such as Charles Shinima, Paulinus ‘John John’ Ndjolonimus and Paulus Amavila win and reclaiming their various continental titles.
Shinima retained his WBO Africa welterweight title with an emphatic victory over South Africa’s Mziwoxolo Ndwayana, while Ndjolonimus also managed to retain his WBO Africa super middleweight title when he stopped Erick Tshimanga of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Amavila was also amongst the top performers this year when he was crowned the new national junior welterweight champion after a win against Elson Kalus.
Philipus ‘Energy’ Nghitumbwa was also in the mix of things this year with a first-round stoppage win over Tanzania’s Said Chino to retain his WBO Global super bantamweight title.
Fillemon Nghutenanye too successfully defended his WBA Pan Africa flyweight against Tanzania’s Ally Ngwando this year, while youngster Flame ‘Special One’ Nangolo was crowned the new African Boxing Union (ABU) Super featherweight champion after beating Zimbabwean boxer Ndondo ‘The Black Hammer’ Ncube.
Para-sport
Namibian para-athletes gave a good account of themselves at this year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. The country made her eighth appearance at the Games and saw para-athlete Ananias Shikongo win a bronze medal in the men’s 100m T12 race.
The country’s young track and field para-athletes also performed well at this year’s African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Games in Lilongwe, Malawi, where they won over six medals in various disciplines during the youth games.
Lowisa Shehama won silver in the T11 100m before Lahja Iipinge grabbed gold in the T12 100m women’s race, while Micheal Muyenga won bronze in the T13 men’s race, with Pius Kalunga winning silver in the T12 800m race.
Fillipus Namweda then bagged a bronze in the T11 men’s 800m race before Mbatjandangi Kambaekua brought the medals curtain down with a bronze medal in the T13 women’s 100m race.
Overall, paralympic sport continues to grow in leaps and bounds locally, with many young athletes coming through the ranks every year and indeed one can say the future looks great.
Athletics
The year was also a promising one for Athletics Namibia, with the country’s Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Christine Mboma winning bronze at this year’s Commonwealth Games after she finished third in the women’s 200m behind Jamaica’s Elain Thompson-Herah and Nigeria’s Favour Ofili.
The Games also saw Namibia veteran marathoner Helalia Johannes winning bronze in the women’s marathon to cement her status as one of Namibia’s and Africa’s all-time greatest long-distance runners.
On the developmental front, promising talents such as Sade de Sousa, Ndawana Haitembu, Nandi Vass, Lize Meyer, Michael Muyenga and Chris Kinda all continue to shine on the big stage, and the sky is the limit for them all.
Football
Despite an absence of football for almost four years, local football finally returned this year – thanks to the intervention of the Fifa Normalisation Committee for the Namibia Football Association (NFA) and the financial backing of Debmarine Namibia.
It was not an easy process for the committee, especially given the hostile environment they found football in, but they managed to weather the storm and struck peace deals between the various feuding clubs to get football back on the field of play.
Debmarine Namibia must be applauded for coming on board as principal sponsor of the country’s topflight league and for enabling the country’s stranded youth to earn a living once more through football.
Although a lot still needs to be done to smoothen the flow of proceedings, one can only laud the committee for a job well done and the clubs for putting their shoulders to the wheel to ensure that football is played again.
The national first and second divisions have all returned to action, and one can now only hope for continued and sustained progress on that front.
At regional level, the Brave Warriors shone brightly at this year’s Cosafa Cup in South Africa, where they went all the way to the final before narrowly losing 0-1 against Zambia in a tense final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
It was not a bad run for the Brave Warriors and coach Collin Benjmain, who was only a few weeks into the job and had to deal with a large number of unfit players due to football inactivity locally.
In the South African premiership, Namibia’s ever-shinning export Peter Shalulile – for the second year running – won both the 2021/22 PSL Footballer of the Season and DStv Premiership Player’s Player of the Season awards.
And despite some minor injuries, he continues to hog headlines in that country and remains one of Namibia’s most treasured assets.
The bad and the ugly
One of the biggest disappointments is the country’s discouraging and embarrassing pace around the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) joint bid with Botswana. Much has been said by officials on both sides and many promises have equally been made at ends, but nothing tangible is yet to be seen.
It has been almost a year since both Namibia and Botswana announced their intentions to jointly bid for the 2027 Afcon, which the two countries said will be hosted on a 40/60 ratio as far as financial contributions and the allocation of facilities is concerned.
But it continues to seem like a far-fetched dream, as Namibia is currently grappling with downgraded stadiums (Independence and Sam Nujoma), which both Fifa and Caf declared unfit to host international matches due to their hazardous state.
That technically means Namibia has no stadium available to include in their 2027 Afcon bid package.
Although finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi announced during this year’s tabling of the national budget that government would allocate N$50 million towards the upgrading and renovation of Independence Stadium, nothing has happened to that effect.
It is rather disappointing that hype was created around BONA 2027 by the two governments and their heads of state, and a few months down the line, nothing seems to be happening in both countries.
Are we, as a country, really ready to bid for the co-hosting of the 2027 Afcon? Namibians are beginning to doubt if we really are. And if the government and the sports ministry continue at this disconcerting pace, unfortunately, Namibia is bound to miss out on a golden opportunity to co-host the 36th edition of the continental mega football showpiece.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na