Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’s national hockey teams stepped up their preparations over the weekend for upcoming international assignments, while some major decisions are due to be taken today.
In Belgium, the Indoor World Cup organisers will decide if the event will go ahead following a spike of Covid-19 cases in Europe, while in Namibia, discussions with potential sponsors will be held to see if the cash-strapped men’s indoor team will be able to make the trip.
The men’s indoor team in recent days has upped the ante with team members taking to social media where they have appealed to the public for financial assistance to help them realise their dream of going to the Indoor World Cup.
They were only included at the last minute after the late withdrawal of Australia and New Zealand in September last year, and as such, their trip had not been budgeted for by their main sponsor MTC, while requests for financial assistance from the government have not yielded any positive results.
The women’s national indoor team, however, secured funding well in advance after beating South Africa to win the Africa Cup in April last year. After that triumph, their main sponsor MTC committed an additional N$900 000 to their annual grant of N$500 000, while they have also been supported by several other sponsors like Standard Bank Namibia, Namdia and NamibRe.
The national women’s team stepped up its preparations over the weekend, completing a tough schedule of four matches in four days against a men’s invitational team.
Although they couldn’t win a match, they were competitive throughout, drawing one 4-4, losing two 4-3 and losing the final match 4-2 on Saturday night.
In that match, Caitlin Gillies nearly gave them an early lead, with her shot hitting the post, but they suffered a setback when experienced defender Gillian Hermanus cut her knee in a collision with the side boarding and had to go to hospital for stitches.
They maintained their momentum in the first quarter, with Kaela Schimming also hitting the post after a fine through ball by Jivanka Kruger. The men, however, upped the tempo in the second quarter, taking the lead through Delron Handura, while his brother Giovanni Handura put them 2-0 ahead early in the third quarter.
The women finally opened their account when Caitlin Gillies scored from a short corner, but Delron Handura completed his hat trick with two more goals, before a deflected shot by Schimming in the final seconds made the final score 4-2.
The women’s coach Erwin Handura said it was a good high tempo game. “We were 2-0 down at a stage, but we came back to reduce the deficit, so it was quite a close game. But I didn’t have all my players here, and I think my players found it a bit tough, playing four games in four days,” he said.
“The scores are not that important at this stage, what matters is that we want to try out our attacking and defensive patterns that we’ve been training and see if we can apply that in a match,” he added.
According to Handura they will have more daily training sessions and matches from today to Wednesday, before flying out to Holland on Saturday morning.
“We will set up our base and prepare for two weeks in Holland where we will play against top clubs as well as their national team, so I think we will be ready for the World Cup which starts on the second of February,” he said.
The men’s outdoor team preparing for the African Cup of Nations in Ghana, meanwhile, overcame stiff resistance to beat an invitational men’s team 8-6 on Thursday evening. With fortunes swaying to and fro throughout, the sides were still level 4-4, before the national side went 7-4 ahead in the final quarter.
The invitation team once again came back with two goals in quick succession by Damien Schütz to force a close finish, before Dian La Cock scored his third goal to give the national side an 8-6 victory.
Christiaan du Raan shone for the national team, scoring four goals, while Kave Tjikuniva scored their other goal. For the invitation team, Brendan Lensen (two), Cody van der Merwe and Nico Jacobs also found the net.
The women’s outdoor team which is also preparing for Afcon, lost 4-2 to a men’s invitation team on Saturday. The women managed to hold the men for most of the match, with the two sides still level at 2-all in the final quarter before two late goals by Nico Jacobs and Hanganeni Shigwedha gave the men a 4-2 victory.
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