Women’s team confirm world top four place

The Namibian senior women’s inline hockey team was due to compete in the bronze final at their world championship (World Skate Games) in Paraguay’s capital Asunción late Friday night (Namibian time).

The clash against USA would be the first ever opportunity for Namibia’s senior women’s team to play for a medal at the World Skate Games.

Their semi-final against France on Thursday was a hard-fought battle. Leighzené Coetzee opened the scoring off a pass from Christine Röttcher and the team was able to go to halftime with a 1-0 lead.

However France found a way to capitalize on a tired and very young team.

They scored two quick goals around the 13-minute mark in the second half to take the lead, before a third goal put the nail in the coffin with about 6 minutes remaining.

With Namibia trailing 3-1, they pulled of their goalie attempting to boost an attacking comeback, but with no such luck the final whistle confirmed a 1-5 result.

According to the Namibia Ice and Inline Hockey Association (NIIHA) match report, the team emptied the energy tanks completely. “To play an entire tournament with nine skaters, one goalie and having four of those players of junior age is absolutely remarkable.

“They had a tough quarter-final that went to overtime the night before and the two matches we played with only 6-7 players due to injuries ended up being much of a task to overcome. The girls did everything humanly possible but fatigue got the best of us today.

“We are doing our best to recover as quickly as possible and get ready for the Americans tomorrow in the bronze medal match.”

JUNIOR MEN

Namibia’s junior men, who were earlier eliminated in the quarter-final, took on Chinese Taipei in a placement game late on Thursday.

This would be the second meeting for these two teams in this tournament, with the first result going to Namibia in overtime.

The competitive nature of the rematch would not disappoint – ending at 3-3 and not only requiring overtime, but would eventually go into penalties. Sadly this time around Taipei would come out on top for the same 4-3 result that ended in Namibia’s favour four days before.

Both teams played well enough to deserve the win and it was a fantastic game for everyone involved.

The Namibians were preparing themselves for Colombia as their next opponent late Friday in the 7th-place playoff, which was again expected to be a very emotional and high-energy opponent.

Namibia’s MVP of the game was captain Abe van der Merwe, with one goal and one assist. Vigo Bajorat and Lucca De Azevedo-were the other goal-scorers.

SENIOR MEN

On Thursday morning, Namibia’s senior men’s squad departed from Windhoek to Asunción, Paraguay, to represent Namibia at the World Skate Championship.

Namibia will be competing in Group A, playing their first game on Monday 11 October at 16:00 against Slovakia.

NIIHA stated: “To our Senior Men: believe in yourselves, believe in each other, and give it everything you’ve got. Play your game, fight for every moment and, most importantly, enjoy being out there representing your country. We are incredibly proud of you and will be following every step of the way from home.”

From the junior men World Skate Games that is already underway, Abe van der Merwe (Badgers) and Vigo Bajorat (Coastal Pirates) will join the senior squad.

Team captain Amandus Röttcher (Coastal Pirates) is also joined by club mates Arian van der Plas, Wim van der Plas, Christiaan Coetzee, JW Coetzee, Max Finkeldey, Valerik Hilbert, Sean-Oliver Kirchner, Sean Liechti, Josef Zeferinu, Josua Zeferinu, as well as Alex Wirtz (Badgers).