The year that was

The year 2016 brought along mixed sport results, as the issue of funding took centre stage with events being cancelled and participation being limited. Everyone looked forward to how many Namibian athletes would qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but that did not turn out so well, as the country ended up not being represented in track-and-field events. The confusion around the qualification of Jamaica-based sprinter Tjipee Herunga frustrated a lot, while no one even focused on the rest of the athletes in the Caribbean country who did not get close to qualifying. Namibians who qualified for Rio failed to bring any medal home, and the arrest of the country's medal hope and Commonwealth silver medallist Jonas Junias Jonas saddened many. The Paralympic team stepped up their game by increasing the number of qualifiers, although all eyes were on golden girl Johanna Benson who failed to scoop a medal at this year's event. Namibia's top performer was sprinter Ananias Shikongo and his guide, Even Tjiviju, who scooped the country's only gold medal plus two bronze medals at the Paralympic Games, with Johannes Nambala adding to the medal tally with two silvers. Being the Cosafa Cup defending champions and host country, the nation looked forward to the tournament and although not much hype was built around it the attendance during the quarterfinal match between Namibia and Botswana will be marked in football history. Although the team lost on penalties, it bounced back to win the plate final as South Africa took the cup back home. The U-17 football team followed in the seniors' footsteps by being crowned Cosafa U-17 champions, while the U-20s missed out on the competition due to the financial crisis that has hit sport. The year also saw the Brave Warriors falling out of the AFCON 2017 qualifiers as well as the World Cup qualifiers. The main highlight in the football fraternity was the divorce between MTC and the Namibia Premier League, which led to the league administrators having to find a new sponsor. So far they have secured only N$3 million for the season and that is not close to the amount needed for the league to kick off. The plan is for the league to kick off in February. The absence of the NFA Cup was another setback for football, but the association has managed to secure a sponsor for the next three years and football players and fans will be in for a treat as from February next year. In rugby circles, the senior national rugby team was crowned African champions, but the Currie Cup delivered disappointing results. The U-19 cricket team delivered an impressive performance in Bangladesh earlier this year when they ended seventh at the cricket world cup and automatically qualified for the 2018 world. Ending the year in style was Julius 'Blue Machine' Indongo who knocked out the knockout specialist Eduard Troyanovsky in his backyard to claim the IBF and IBO light welterweight world titles. In this month, Namibia bagged three world titles, the third being that of Bethuel 'Tyson' Uushona when he won the WBF welterweight world title against Rafal Jackiewicz of Poland. Despite some positive results from the sportsmen and women, associations have been finding it hard as their budgets saw major cuts. The financial crisis in sports has been hampering sport activities and forced the Directorate of Sport to cut the number of teams that participated at the Zone Five Games in Angola earlier this month. Despite promises of rewarding the Paralympic medal winners, the Sport Directorate has not yet done so. The sport fraternity pinned their hopes on President Hage Geingob to rescue sport, as he is the football and rugby patron. But Geingob made it clear that the government would not get involved in football, as it is against FIFA rules. The usual infighting within sport codes continued, as concerned people demanded a new football leadership while boxing promoters criticised the new members of the boxing control board. There is faint hope for the future of Namibian sport, as the sport ministry is hoping for a bigger budget allocation in the next financial year.KAINO NGHITONGO

The year that was

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-01

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The year that was

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-01

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