Coastal Pirates in medal haul

COASTAL Pirates clinched three gold, six silver and one bronze medal at the Spes Bona Fiat Alpha Inline Hockey tournament held at the Gazadores Rink in the capital from 15 to 19 July.

The Cazadores Inline Hockey team managed to edge ahead of the Badgers by one medal, taking a total of seven medals, which included two gold, two silver and three bronze medals.Badgers took six medals, displaying particular strengths in the women’s classes as they took home two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.The Scorpions took two gold and three bronze medals back to Otjiwarongo.Kamikaze edged into the medals’ table with the combined team ‘Old Crocks’, taking gold in the masters’ division and silver with their under-8 team.Altogether, the five clubs and the invitation team ‘Wild Cats’ from South Africa scored 440 goals in the tournament.In years to come, players and spectators alike would remember the weekend of 17 July as a big success.The Spes Bona Fiat Alfa Tournament was the third of five Namibian inline hockey tournaments for the year, and it was conducted over a marathon five days.A total of 85 games were played, with 45 teams (including the Wildcats from South Africa) challenging each other for pride and medals in the 10 divisions. Friday brought with it the arrival of the out-of-town teams from Swakopmund, Otjiwarango and the Wildcats, as well as warming weather conditions.The weekend also brought some heated and intense inline hockey action, as 60 games were played from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. The competition was tough, and large numbers of spectators were exposed to superb and exciting play. However, when the last game ended and the dust had cleared, Coastal Pirates once again showed their dominance in this sport. The release said inline hockey has become one of Namibia’s fastest-growing sports as children from six-years-old to adults at the Masters’ level are increasingly becoming addicted to the sport.The next inline hockey tournament is scheduled for Swakopmund from 26-30 August this year. – Nampa