Namibia completed their 2026 Commonwealth Games campaign with a total of one silver and two bronze medals which were all won by their boxers.
By yesterday afternoon that put them in 28th place overall out of 74 competing nations and seventh overall amongst the 21 African nations.
That was a slight improvement on the 2022 team that won four bronze medals to come 39th overall out of 72 nations, and compared favourably with Namibia’s previous Commonwealth Games excursions since their debut in 1994.
On that occasion legendary sprinter Frankie Fredericks won one gold and one bronze medal to put Namibia 18th overall out of 63 competing nations, while it came 19th twice – at the 2006 Games in Melbourne and the 2018 Games at the Gold Coast.
Namibia’s best performance in terms of gold medals won came in 2018 when it won two, through marathon runner Helalia Johannes and boxer Jonas Junias, while its best performance in terms of total medals won came in Manchester in 2002 when it won one gold and four bronze medals.
This time, though, it was Namibia’s boxers who excelled, with Tryagain Ndevelo winning a silver medal in the men’s 60kg category, while Philip Haoseb and Mischa Araes both won bronze in the men’s 55kg and women’s 51kg categories respectively.
That was the best performance of any African nation in the boxing competition, while Namibia finished seventh overall behind India, England, Australia, Northern Ireland, Canada and Wales.
On Saturday, Ndevelo was desperately unlucky not to win the 60kg gold medal when he suffered a spit points decision defeat in the final against Sachin Sachin of India.
Ndevelo took the lead from the first round with his sharp jab and combinations, and although Sachin came storming out in the second, Ndevelo displayed great movement to stay out of trouble. Sachin was also deducted a point for not keeping his head up and going into the third round Ndevelo was ahead on four of the five judges’ scorecards.
In the final round Sachin once again did most of the attacking, but Ndevelo landed some shots on the counterattack and seemed to have clinched the fight until the dying seconds. Sachin caught a retreating Ndevelo with a glancing blow that momentarily put him on the canvas and although he was immediately up again, he had to receive a standing eight count. It was a fateful blow as Sachin clinched the round as well as the fight on a split 3-2 decision.
Araes gives inspirational message
On Friday, Haoseb and Araes both secured bronze medals after they lost their semifinal fights against Jadumani Mandengbam of India and Ruby White of England respectively.
Haoseb impressed with his hand speed and movement, but Mandengbam landed effective punches on the counter-attack and ended up as a comfortable 5-0 winner.
Araes also gave an encouraging performance, taking the fight to her opponent, but received two standing eight counts in the second round before the referee stopped the contest.
In a video on the Namibia National Olympic Committee’s Facebook page, Araes gave an inspirational message to fellow Namibian sports women after receiving her bronze medal.
“This is a message to young Namibian women out there who are doing sport. This is me at a very young stage in my career doing the most, and it’s just an example that nothing is impossible for a woman who is doing any type of sport. You can do it, if you put your mind to it and your heart to it and if you keep the discipline consistent. First of all confidence should be there, then you can accomplish anything,” she said.
On the final day of athletics on Saturday, Namibia’s Ryan Williams came eighth overall in the men’s discus with a throw of 55.37m.
Matthew Denny of Australia won gold (67.73m), while Fedrick Dacres of Jamaica won silver (65.10m) and Lawrence Okoye of England bronze (64.45m).
In bowls, Namibia’s Waylon Wentzel and Ronald Steenkamp beat Epic Poila and Jason Lindsay of the Cook Islands on a tie-breaker (5-1, 3-7, 2-0) to finish 12th overall in the men’s pairs competition. They had earlier beaten Botswana and the Falkland Islands, but lost to India and England.
Diana Viljoen lost her final match in the women’s singles competition 2-0 (7-6, 6-5) to Milika Nathan of Tonga to finish 16th overall after she had earlier beaten Kenya and Fiji, but lost to England and Norfolk Island.
