Africa-Press – Namibia. STERLING performances from the nation’s stars provided a beacon of hope and inspiration amid all the continued doom and gloom caused by the coronavirus pandemic this year.
These remarkable athletes overcame personal losses and limited resources to prepare for international competition and ensure that Namibia remains a force to be reckoned with.
The Namibian Sport requested five prominent sport journalists to share their 10 most memorable sport events of 2021.
Hesron Kapanga (Nampa):
1. The u20 national boys’ football team qualifying and competing at the 2021 Afcon.
2. Christine Mboma winning a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
3. Ananias Shikongo winning a silver and Johannes Nambala winning a bronze medal at the 2020 Paralympic Games.
4. The national senior men’s cricket team qualifying for the T20 World Cup Super-12 at the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup.
5. The senior national women’s hockey team qualifying for the 2022 Hockey World Cup.
6. The senior national women’s football team (Brave Gladiators) reaching the final round of qualification for the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
7. Namibia’s 4 x 100m women’s relay team winning a silver at the u20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi,Kenya.
8. Peter Shalulile becoming the face of the South Africa Premier Soccer League with his standout performances.
9. Mboma winning the Diamond League.
10. Mboma winning the Athletics Weekly Magazine Awards’ International Junior Female Athlete of the Year prize, and being nominated for the BBC Africa Sport Stars of the year.
Castro Ulumbu (One Africa TV):
1. The senior women’s hockey team retaining the Africa Cup Indoor trophy and qualifying for the 2022 IFH World Cup in Liege, Belgium.
2. Peter Shalulile winning the PSL Player of the Season and PSL Players’ Player of the Season 2020/21.
3. Christine Mboma winning silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
4. Mboma winning the 2021 Diamond League 200m crown.
5. Namibia’s senior men’s cricket team reaching the ICC T20 World Cup Super 12.
6. Tura Magic Ladies Football Club participating at the 2021 inaugural Cosafa Women’s Champions League Qualifiers tournament.
7. Namibia winning 16 medals to rank ninth overall at the inaugural ISF u15 World School Championships in Belgrade, in Serbia.
8. Johannes Nambala winning a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
9. Ananias Shikongo winning a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
10. The Brave Gladiators knocking out Cosafa champions Tanzania from the 2022 Women Afcon qualifiers.
Otniel Hembapu (New Era):
1. Christine Mboma wining silver in the women’s 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
2. Mboma winning the Diamond League 200m title.
3. Mboma winning the Athletics Weekly Magazine’s Best International Athlete of the Year award.
4. Namibia’s cricket team beating the Netherlands and Ireland to reach the Super 12 of the ICC World Cup, which also saw them automatically qualify for the next World Cup.
5. Paralympian Ananias Shikongo winning silver in Tokyo.
6. Paralympian Johannes Nambala scooping bronze in Tokyo as well,
7. The indoor hockey women’s team winning the Africa Cup to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Belgium.
8. Netball Namibia successfully hosting two major international events – the Debmarine Pent Series and the Africa Cup.
9. Peter Shalulile winning the PSL Footballer of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season accolades for the 2020/21 season.
10. Namibian tennis star Connor van Schalkwyk qualifying for the 2022 edition of the Australian Open Junior Championships – a first for Namibia.
Jesse Jackson Kauraisa (Namibian Sun)
1. Christine Mboma winning a 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games silver.
2. Beatrice Masilingi qualifying for the final of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games 200m.
3. Namibia senior women’s hockey national team qualifying for the World Cup.
4. The senior men’s national cricket team qualifying for the super12 round at the T20 World Cup.
5. Namibia’s women’s 4 x 100m relay team taking silver at the World Athletics Junior Championships.
6. Beatrice Masilingi winning 100m silver at the same athletics championships.
7. Christine Mboma winning 200m gold at the junior athletics championships.
8. Ananias Shikongo winning silver at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games in the T12 400m.
9. Johannes Nambala taking bronze at the same competition in the T49 400m.
10. The Brave Warriors’ victory over Togo in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Crucial Selekta (Energy FM)
1. The welcome return of the annual MTC Namibia Sport Awards after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to Covid-19.
2. Peter Shalulile winning the2020/21 PSL Footballer of the Season and DStv Premiership Player’s Player of the Season awards.
3. Namibia’s men’s cricket team making history by qualifying for the ICC T20 World Cup Super-12 stage at the first attempt.
4. The senior indoor women’s hockey team beating South Africa 2-0 in the final match of the Women’s Indoor Africa Cup in Durban, in South Africa – not only winning the tournament, but also qualifying for the 2022 Indoor World Cup in Belgium.
5. The vacant WBO interim super-featherweight title fight in which American Shakur Stevenson beat Namibia’s Jeremiah Nakathila. Considering how much it takes to get a world-title fight, the highlight is that Nakathila was in a fight of that magnitude.
6. Wendell Rudath’s two Caf Champions League goals in Dar es Salaam for Botswana’s Jwaneng Galaxy that saw them beat Tanzanian giants Simba SC 3-1 in the return leg after Simba had won 2-0 in Botswana. The win secured Jwaneng Galaxy a spot in the group stage.
7. The return of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Cup which ended with Civics claiming honours after beating Mighty Gunners 3-2. Football at the highest level in Namibia was played for the duration of the tournament, considering there has been no top-flight football in the country for a while now.
8. Christine Mboma leading compatriot Beatrice Masilingi to take gold and silver at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships women’s 200m.
9. Namibia’s flag-bearer Maike Diekmann and delegation parade walking in during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games on 23 July. The human spirit triumphed in really tough times.
10. Namibia sprint sensations Mboma and Masilingi both reaching the 2020 Tokyo Olympics 200m final. Masilingi was first to qualify for the final when she finished in second place in semi-final 1 behind Shelley-Ann Fraser, while Mboma claimed her final berth when she too finished in second place behind Elaine Thompson-Herahi in semi-final 2.
Then Mboma made history when she finished second in the women’s 200m final to become Namibia’s first female athlete to win a medal at the Olympic Games.
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