Category: Hockey

Head coach of the Namibian women’s national indoor hockey team, Erwin Handura stated, his squad is nearly ready for the upcoming Indoor Hockey World Cup. 

The highly anticipated competition is set to commence this week, with Namibia placed in Pool B alongside Ukraine, Czech Republic, Belgium, Kazakhstan, and Canada.

In an interview with SRSM, Handura, who held his team’s training camp in the Netherlands, shared that the squad had a productive preparation for the World Cup, as the team competed in several high-intensity games against local clubs in that country. He stated that they gained valuable lessons from these matches and made necessary adjustments to address their shortcomings.

“The team’s readiness, both mentally and physically, is at a high level, and we’re looking forward to our first match on Sunday,” Handura expressed confidently. 

The team will start their journey in the tournament with a tie against Kazakhstan on February 5th and will go on to face Canada on the 6th, Ukraine on the 7th, and Czech Republic on the 9th.

Despite being satisfied with the team’s overall fitness, Handura acknowledged that they will need to make some final tweaks ahead of the tournament. However, he emphasized that he is confident in his team’s preparation and performance.

“The team is 90% ready for this competition. We will need to do some few adjustments ahead of the first encounter. But overall I am satisfied,” he added

Namibia’s women’s team qualified directly for the Indoor World Cup as the continental champions. 

The event, initially scheduled to take place in Liege, Belgium in February 2022, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sixth edition of the tournament, set to take place this year, will mark the first time it will be held outside of Europe.

By: Joviita Kandjumbwa

A test series for the books for Namibia.

The Namibia Hockey Union hosted a three day international Hockey Indoor Test Series against South Africa at the Windhoek Show grounds indoor hockey arena over the past weekend.

Namibia started off the series with a victory 2-0 against South Africa followed by a 2-1 win in the second test to conclude Day one, on a high note.

Day two saw both teams levelled, unable to split the points after playing both matches to a draw. Test three Namibia 2-2 South Africa, Test Four Namibia 4-4 South Africa.

On the final day of the series South Africa fought hard to get a first win, winning by a single goal against Namibia. Despite Namibia losing the final test match, they won the overall test by 2-1. A first for the Namibian Hockey ladies to win a test series against South Africa.

Vice-captain of Namibia Sunelle Ludwig was crowned the player of the series, while Namibia’s Petro Stoffberg was awarded goalkeeper of the series and Azaylee Philander of Namibia scored the most goals (8 goals) of the series.

Speaking at the games, Coach Erwin Handura expressed his satisfaction with the ladies performance, “it’s good that we could win two of the five matches and lost one, it shows that our preparation for the world cup are on the right track, we still have some work to do but pretty happy with the efforts so far” said Handura.

This international test series also served as preparation for the Indoor World Cup next year and the Union is planning on possibly hosting one more tournament at home before the world cup and a European tour, said Reagon Graig NHU president.

This test series also marked the last international game for Magreth “Magy” Mengo on home soil as she plans to retire at the end of the Indoor Hockey World cup, scheduled for the 5^th to the 11^th of February 2023 in Pretoria, South Africa.

An emotional Mengo who is the team’s captain reflected on her journey which she descried as “phenomenal”.

“Namibia has carried me, a special thank you to my coach he started hockey with me, thank you to the executives, all the sponsors MTC, Standard Bank, NAMDIA, DTA, K5. Thank you God for blessing me with this talent and carrying me” said Mengo.

Handura praised Mengo for being a brilliant leader on and off the field, being a champion in acquiring funds for the team stating that since 2015 the women never had to pay for any expenses because of Mengo’s efforts. “It is a blessing to have Magy as a captain”.