{"id":38879,"date":"2023-02-08T17:08:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T17:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke"},"modified":"2023-02-08T17:17:05","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T17:17:05","slug":"gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","title":{"rendered":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old bantamweight grappler made it clear during the team’s send-off yesterday that they are not going be ‘also-rans’ at the 11 to 17 February International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (Immaf) global competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not going there to be another number or take part. We’re not just going there to have an experience. We’re trying to go for gold, we’re trying to place and make it known that we are some of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world.<\/p>\n

“We made a statement at the African championships and came back with three medals,\u201d Bok told the press.<\/p>\n

He is determined to upgrade his continental bronze, which he won at lightweight, to gold at the World Championships in his preferred weight class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you can expect from us is a disciplined approach. We’re trying to put Namibia on the map.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying to pioneer the sport in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might be lesser known as a sport in the country, but we’re making the loudest noise within the shortest amount of time. So, you can expect fireworks from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over 520 athletes from 62 countries are expected to challenge for honours in Belgrade, making the current world edition the biggest event in the international governing body’s history.<\/p>\n

A number of champions from the 2022 season are on the roster, including Namibia’s African champion, Veja Hinda, who will do battle in the featherweight division.<\/p>\n

He gets an elimination round ‘bye’ due to his status, and will join the cation from the round of 16.<\/p>\n

Junior welterweight Ronaldo Feris, junior lightweight Stefan Gilge and Arno Jacob, who fights at straw-weight, complete a strong Namibian contingent heading out to Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n

The sixth member of the team, a \u201cdevastated\u201d Damian Miller, had to pull out due to illness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got sick, so unfortunately he can’t travel with us. It’s a pity, cause that also would have been another medal in the flyweight division,\u201d coach Carlos de Sousa said yesterday.<\/p>\n

The senior competition will feature six weight divisions for female athletes, from atomweight to lightweight, and 10 for male athletes, from straw-weight to super-heavyweight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t know who they will be competing with, we’ll only know when we arrive on the 9th [of February] in Serbia,\u201d said De Sousa.<\/p>\n

The team has trained consistently for just over 10 weeks and are in peek combat condition, said De Sousa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys will make Namibia proud. They are very focused, so you’ll definitely get medals from the team,\u201d De Sousa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll have some tough competition over there. But it’s nothing we can’t handle. I’m happy with their fitness, they are in top notch condition,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cMentally they are ready for it. I drill it into them, that we’re not going for holiday. I’ve also been there, so I know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Sousa’s charges are relative novices internationally, having made their bow at that level only in April last year.<\/p>\n

But their success over such a short period of time has got the attention of their rivals<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they are more afraid of us because they don’t know much about us and we know a lot about them. The word on the street is that they are quite wary about the Namibian team. They are searching all over for any video clips they can get of our fighters,\u201d said De Sousa.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. The 25-year-old bantamweight grappler made it clear during the team’s send-off yesterday that they are not going be ‘also-rans’ at the 11 to 17 February International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (Immaf) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":38878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-38879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nGold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"358\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\"},\"wordCount\":617,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\",\"name\":\"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke - Namibia","description":"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke","og_description":"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":358,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke","datePublished":"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke"},"wordCount":617,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke","name":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-08T17:08:45+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-08T17:17:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"NAMIBIA will not be at the 2022 Immaf World Championships in Serbia to make up numbers, says team captain Geraldo Bok. ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675863531.90.jpg","width":720,"height":358,"caption":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/gold-or-nothing-namibian-stars-go-for-broke#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gold, or nothing: Namibian stars go for broke"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}