For the love of the game

ESTER KAMATI

RIETFONTEIN



The Games took place at the National Youth Service training centre at Rietfontein, as well as the Omulunga stadium in Grootfontein, over a period of three days.



Basketball

In basketball, Khomas retained the spotlight, with both the boys' and girls' teams securing first place.

The girls' team faced Oshana in the final, leaving them in second place with a score of 16 after winning with a score of 36. The Otjozondjupa girls put up a good fight on home ground, coming third after going up against Omaheke.

The Omaheke boys' team came pretty close as they faced Kavango West for third place, losing with a score of 15, while Kavango West secured the third place with 24.

The Khomas boys showed off in the last basketball game of this year's Youth Games, leaving no room for regret as they bagged a total score of 76 against the opposing Oshikoto, who managed to secure 17 points and a second-place trophy.

Operi Tjingaete from the Khomas region was named as the most valuable player. “There are so many good players out there and a lot of them also deserve this award. I'm just very grateful for winning this and I'm sure my parents will be proud of me as well,” said Tjingaete, who has been shooting hoops for three years since leaving gymnastics.

Titus Ntaagona, also representing the central region, was awarded most valuable player in the boys' category. He said it was not an easy journey and he had put in a lot of hard work in his four years of playing basketball.

A pool of players was selected to represent Namibia in the Cossasa ball games slated for August 2021. During the April holidays, they will be called for training in Windhoek where 12 players will be selected to go to Lesotho.

Titus Mwahafa, secretary-general of Namibian Basketball, said they wanted to see how the players perform at the camp before selecting a final team.



Athletics

Track and field events had a list of familiar faces, one being Beatrice Masilingi, who took part in the 100 m, 200 m, 400 m and relay races, and won first place in all these events.

“It's a great feeling; I worked for that moment,” she said. She added that she is motivated by her family, whom she wants to give a better life. She also mentioned that being an athlete is not an easy task as it takes a lot of sacrifice and training, which means spending less time with her family. The T12 under-19 para-athletics 400 m run was dominated by Oshana athletes, with Lahia Ipinge in first place, Linda David in second and Mariana Kayuhwena in third.

Kavango East came out on top in the same event in the boys' category, with Pius Kalunga taking first place, followed by Muyenga Michael in second place and Peter Kalunga in third place.

Khomas placed first in the boys' under-19 4x100 m relay, with Omusati coming second and Kavango East in third place. Erongo Region, represented by Chislene Klein-Nienaber, placed first in the girls' 100 m hurdles with Hope Paulus in second place representing the Otjozondjupa Region.

Otjozondjupa also took first place in high jump, while Erongo placed second and Hardap in third.

The boys from //Karas took first place in the same event, with Otjozondjupa in second and Omaheke in third.

In tennis, the overall winners were Johannes Swartz from the Khomas Region and Joanivia Bezuidenhout from Otjozondjupa. In second place were Lorenzo Danster in the boys' category and Odyciah Karaerua in the girls' category, both from Khomas Region. In third place, receiving bronze medals for their performance, were Stephan Koen (Otjozondjupa) and Nicola Nitschke (Khomas).