Category: Games

T11 male paralympic sprinters Chris Kinda (guided by Riwaldo Goagoseb) and Ananias Shikongo (guided by Even Tjiuiju) progressed to the semi-finals of the men’s T11 100 metres (m) after finishing second in their heats at the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) 2023 World Para Athletics Championships underway in Paris, France.

The T11 100m heats were held on Friday morning at the Charlety Stadium, where over 1 300 athletes from 107 nations are competing for 168 medals.

On Friday morning, Shikongo and Tjiuiju ran a seasonal best of 11.36 seconds to finish second in a photo finish behind Germany’s Marcel Boettger and his guide Alexander Kosenkow, who won that heat with the same time.

Meanwhile, Shikongo’s teammates Kinda and Goagoseb also finished second in their heat with a time of 11.76 seconds to see both runners progressing to the semi-finals.

Alfredo Bernardo, another T11 athlete, and his guide Hatago Murere, failed to reach the next round of the competition after finishing last in their heat with a time of 12.14 seconds.

Only the heat winner and the fastest seven runner-ups from the five heats progressed to the semi-finals slated for 20h35 Friday evening.

Another Namibian expected to compete on Friday evening is T12 female sprinter Lahja Ipinge and her guide Paulus Filippus, who will compete in the 100m heat, while T13 male sprinter Johannes Nambala will compete in the 400m heat.

The major international multi-sport event involves athletes with a range of disabilities and is governed by the International Paralympic Committee.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The national senior women’s football team, the “Brave Gladiators”, will have a two-goal advantage on Tuesday to their return leg of the 2024 Women’s Olympic Games qualifier against Equatorial Guinea.

The Brave Gladiators outclass their opponents 2-0 in the first leg of their Olympic qualifiers at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The 2024 Women’s Olympic Games qualifiers are being used to select two teams that will represent the continent in Paris, France in 2024. The winner of the first-round ties will advance to the second round, where they will face Morocco in October this year.

In their opening match of the qualifiers on Thursday, the gladiators put up an outstanding performance, which saw their talisman, Zenatha Coleman, opening the score in the 34th minute to take the game to the half-time break with a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, Coleman’s brilliant play once again saw her creating an assist for Ivone Kooper, who double the score in the 52nd minute to put the Namibian outfit at an advantage ahead of their return leg in Malabo.

In an interview after the match, gladiators’ head coach, Paulus Shipanga, said playing against a team that is better than them is always a challenge but patience and dedication got them through.

“I am proud of the girls the way they played. I would have liked more goals but we need to be thankful for the ones we scored and played against players that are bigger than us in physique. You are not able to dominate them physically therefore we opted for speed which won us the game,” he said.

He added that his long-term goal is to build something for the next two or three years but with him just being an interim coach that would be difficult to execute but he will do his best to give each player a playing opportunity.

The return leg of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games qualifiers is slated for Malabo Stadium in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on 18 July 2023.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Namibia’s T44 sprinter, Denzel Namene and T13 sprinter Johannes Nambala on Tuesday missed out on silverware after finishing fifth and sixth in their respective events at the 2023 Paris World Para Athletics Championships underway in France.

The 2023 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) World Para Athletics Championships which runs from 08 to 17 July, has over 1 300 athletes from 107 nations competing for 168 medals.

On Tuesday night, Namene came fifth in the final of the 100m with a time of 12.45 seconds, while Nambala ran a seasonal best of 11.05 seconds, which was not good enough for a medal as he crossed the line sixth.

T13 100m world record holder, Ageze Salum Kashafali of Norway, won the gold with a championship record of 10.45 seconds.

Meanwhile, Namibian T12 sprinter, Lahja Ipinge, who made her debut at the world athletics championships, was disqualified in the 400m heats for a false start and Namibia’s T11 400m silver medallist Lahja Ishitile also failed to progress to the final of the 100m after finishing second in the semi-finals.

Only the winners of the T11 100m heats and one of the fastest times from the three heats qualified for the final.

On Wednesday morning, T47 athlete Bradley Murere missed out on a medal in the long jump event after finishing 15th with a season-best of 5.62m. Robiel Sol Cervantes of Cuba won the gold with a championship record throw of 7.63m.

Still on Wednesday, T37 sprinter Petrus Karuli, who has thus far found the going tough at the championships, had a change in fortunes as he reached the final of the 400m after finishing second in his heat. Karuli clocked a time of 56.97 seconds, while the heat winner Yaroslav Okapinskyi of Ukraine clocked 54.89 seconds.

After six days of competition, Namibia has one silver medal.

In the previous edition of the IPC World Para Athletics Championships held in 2019 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Team Namibia won two medals which were gold and bronze, both from Johannes Nambala in the 400m and 100m sprints.

The major international multi-sport event involves athletes with a range of disabilities and is governed by the International Paralympics Committee.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

Namibian athletes with a disability found the going tough on day three of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) 2023 World Para Athletics Championships underway in Paris, France.

Over 1 300 athletes from 107 nations are competing for 168 medals and qualification slots for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, a major international multi-sport event that involves athletes with a range of disabilities and is governed by the IPC.

On Tuesday morning, T13 sprinter Johannes Nambala qualified for the final of the 100 metres (m) after finishing fourth in his heat with a time of 11.20 seconds.

Norwegian athlete and world record holder Salum Ageze Kashafali ran the fastest time from all the heats clocking 10.74 seconds while Algerian sprinter Skander Athmani who won the first heat clocked the second fastest time of 10.85 seconds to set up an exciting final on Wednesday, 12 July at 19h20.

Meanwhile, T11 male sprinters Chris Kinda and his guide Riwaldo Goagoseb as well as Ananias Shikongo and his guide Sem Shimanda, missed out on an opportunity to compete for silverware in the T11 400m after finishing third and fourth in their respective heats.

Shikongo and his guide finished third in their heat with a time of 52.02 seconds while Gerard Descarrega of Spain and his guide Guillermo Gil Rojo ran a seasonal best of 50.97 seconds to win that heat. Their time was the fastest of all the two heats that were held on the day.

In the second heat, Kinda and his guide finished last with a time of 52.33 seconds as they found it hard to outclass home favourites Timothee Adolphe and his guide Jeffrey Lami as well as Gauthier Makunda and his guide Lucas Mathonat who finished first and second respectively to book themselves spots in the final.

Only the heat winner and the two fastest losers from both heats progressed to the final slated for Wednesday evening at the Charlety Stadium in Paris, France.

Namibia’s T11 female sprinter Lahja Ishitile and her guide Sem Shimanda reached the final of the women’s T11 400 metres (m) race on Monday night after once again setting a new African record and will be in contention for a podium place on Tuesday evening.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Anderson Pierson has called on athletes to break world records while competing at the 2023 Paris World Para Athletics Championships.

Over 1,300 athletes from 107 nations will be competing in 168 medals events at the 2023 IPC World Para Athletics Championships, underway in the French capital from 08 to 17 July.

The 10th edition of the 2023 Paris World Para Athletics Championships will make history as the Para Athletics World Championships kicked off at the Charlety Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Pierson said for the first time, the world champs take place in a place that will be hosting the Paralympics Games the following year, and this is an opportunity for athletes to familiarise themselves with the venue and conditions of the city that will be hosting one of the biggest, events in the world.

“This allows athletes to learn and break records as they prepare for the Paralympics Games. Some of the athlete’s journey to the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games begins here. I, therefore, call on all of you to take this time and opportunity to enjoy yourselves while competing at these championships as you prepare for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games,” he said.

Namibian athletes competing in the 2023 IPC World Para Athletic Championships are T11 male sprinters, Ananias Shikongo, Kinda Chris, and Alfredo Bernado, T11 female sprinter Lahja Ishitile, and T12 sprinter Lahja Ipinge, T13 sprinter Johannes Nambala, T47 sprinter Bradley Murere, T37 sprinter Petrus Karuli, and T44 sprinter Denzel Namene.

The athletes are accompanied by their guides, Even Tjiuiju, Hatango Murere, Kelvin Goagoseb, Philipus Paulus and Sem Shimanda.

The management team consists of Jean-Paul Schmidt who heads the delegation, team manager Michael Hamukwaya, Ruan Mocke (physiotherapist), Letu Hamhola (head coach) and Naomi Schmidt (assistant coach).

Ishitile and Karuli are the first athletes competing in the T11 and T37 400 metres (m) and 100m respectively on Sunday evening.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The national senior football team “Brave Warriors” lost their second match of the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) Cup against Eswatini and are in a do-or-die situation against Botswana on Tuesday.

The 2023 Senior Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup is underway in Durban, South Africa. Namibia is drawn in Group A alongside Botswana, Eswatini and host nation South Africa.

In their second match at the championship, the Brave Warriors opened the scoring in the 34th minute through a brilliant free kick by Absalom Iimbindi but lost the match 2-1. Their hopes of qualifying for the next round of the competition are almost impossible.

Two goals in a space of three minutes from Eswatini in the first half turned the game on its head just before halftime. Sifiso Matse equalised for Eswatini and then almost immediately his teammate Bongwa Matsebula had them in front and they managed to hold on for the win.

With the defeat on Saturday afternoon for the Brave Warrior, this means that South Africa who won their match against Botswana earlier in the day heads the group with four points and will meet Eswatini next. Eswatini has three points, the same number as Botswana. Namibia has one point and is bottom of the group.

In an interview after the match, the Brave Warrior’s head coach Collin Benjamin said they dominated possession in the first half but failed to capitalise on their advantage.

“We got ourselves influenced by the players of Eswatini. They knew what they wanted and used that to their advantage and despite us taking the lead we did not put authority on the game which Eswatini did,” he said.

Benjamin added that his team got knocked on the day but they need to stand up and dust themselves off for their next encounter.

“We are looking at this new generation of players that we have to give time so that they can also grow to the standard we want them to be,” Benjamin said.

Only the top team in each pool qualifies automatically for the semi-finals of the Cosafa Cup along with the best-placed runner-up, so there is little margin for error. Namibia’s next match against Botswana will be at 18h00 on Tuesday at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency