Handicapped Jewels face Celtic test

Namibia’s national netball team, the Desert Jewels, will most likely be without three of their top players when they compete at the Celtic Cup in Glasgow, Scotland next week.

The three players – defender Loide Kanyolo, centre Monica Gomases and shooter Louise Kausehue – are currently undergoing basic training with the Namibian Police and Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) and cannot be released.

Kausehue is doing basic training with the police, while Gomases and Kanyolo are undergoing training with NCS.

Netball Namibia president Juanita Witbeen says they had been informed by the Namibian Police that they cannot be released and that it was a big blow for their aspirations.

“Their absence will affect our team very badly. They are all key players that we need to perform at our best level. We already suffered a setback due to the non-availability of Anna Kaspar due to personal reasons, and the presence of the other three will be crucial if we hope to improve our world ranking,” she says.

“We are playing some of the top-ranked teams in the world and our aim is to win a few matches to improve our world ranking. Now we will have to use inexperienced players, but I don’t want to put them under too much pressure,” she adds.

Namibia is currently ranked 15th in the world, while all the other nations that they will face at the Celtic Cup are ranked higher.

Wales is ranked sixth, Uganda seventh, Scotland 10th, Northern Ireland 12th, and Zimbabwe 13th.

Earlier this year Namibia’s Deseret Jewels excelled when they won the inaugural UAE Netball Cup in Dubai after beating Singapore 62-53 in the final, but Namibia was the highest ranked nation at that tournament, with the other teams ranked between 18th and 30th in the world.

Witbeen says they need to be at full strength to be at their best.

“We are playing against countries that are all ranked higher than us so this is a platform for us to push up our international rankings.

“We have been preparing a long time with these athletes and we will need them, in order to be competitive against these countries. It is crucial that we compete against the higher ranked countries because our aim is to gain experience and to qualify for the World Cup when the qualifiers are held next year,” she says.

All three players have been in fine form this season with Kanyolo helping NCS to win the MTC Netball Premier League title for the third year in a row, while Gomases starred for Wanderers and Kausehua for Golden Girls.

Last season Gomases excelled when she played for the all-conquering Gauteng Golden Fireballs in the SA Telkom League.

They remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and went on to win the title after beating Free State Crinums 47-40 in the final.

Gomases received a further accolade when she was nominated as a finalist for the Namibia sportswoman of the year award.

Witbeen says she hopes the NCS will reconsider their decision.

“We sent letters to the ministries and asked them if they can be released. The NCS replied and they said they can only release Monica from 30 November but that will be too late. We don’t underestimate the importance of their training but the tournament is only for eight days so we asked them to consider our request to release them early,” she says, adding that she hoped they would reconsider.

“Sometimes the information they receive is not based on facts so I hope that they will reconsider,” she adds.

Time, however, is against them as the team leaves for Scotland on Friday.

Namibian Police inspector general Kenneth Muatara says their request will be processed through the normal channels.

“They are all doing their basic training, which is essential for their careers. They wrote us a letter and requested their release, and all I can say is that their request is being attended to and will follow the normal procedures. It has been referred to the Office of the Inspector General,” he says.

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