Indoor hockey swings into action

THE Omina National Indoor Hockey League kicks off tomorrow with seven matches scheduled to take place at the DTS Indoor Arena in Olympia.

In the main match at 19h00 DTS take on Wanderers in a men’s Premier League encounter, while Wanderers face Windhoek Old Boys Sport Club (WOB) in a women’s Premier League match starting at 18h00. The men’s encounter should be an evenly contested affair as both teams have strong squads. DTS will be strong title contenders with players like Sedric Makati, Darren Martin and Emile Visser leading their onslaught, while they have several promising youngsters coming through the ranks. Wanderers also have a strong squad with the likes of Riaan Kruger, Francois Fuscher, Stefan du Preez and Ettienne de Villiers and will hope to get off to a winning start. Since joining the Premier League two seasons ago, they have improved considerably and could come into contention for the title at the end of the season. Unam have dominated the men’s competition, winning it eight times over the past nine years and they will once again be the strong favourites to retain the title. Their star player Siabonga Martins might however be missing this year as he has applied for a sports bursary to play hockey at the University of Port Elizabeth and at the time of going to press he was still waiting for an answer. If he does go, his loss will be sorely felt by Unam, although Martins, himself reckons they can continue their dominance without him. ‘There is not much more for me to achieve in Namibia and I will be very happy if I can play in South Africa. But I believe Unam have the players to win again. They still have a massive squad and there are some good youngsters coming through,’ he told Namibia Sport. Windhoek Old Boys, who came second last season, have been dealt a blow as leading players like Bucko Bartlett, Sean McCullough, Scooter Mosiane, Chad Bullington and Henry Hendricks have left for studies abroad. In their absence, their hopes will lie with veterans like Trevor Cormack, Luke Pennefather, Coenie Fourie and Archie Botha. The women’s league should be very evenly balanced with the defending champions WOB, DTS, Wanderers and Unam all in with a chance of winning the title. Last season, WOB beat Wanderers to the title on the last day of the league and this season’s title race should once again be a closely contested affair. Tomorrow’s fixtures are as follows: 13h00 DTS Draughters v Rehoboth (Men’s 1st league) 14h00 DTS v Wanderers (Women’s 2nd league) 15h00 DTS v Wanderers (Men’s 2nd league) 16h00 DTS v Wanderers (Women’s 1st league) 17h00 DTS v Wanderers (Men’s 1st league) 18h00 WOB v Wanderers (Women’s Premier League) 19h00 DTS v Wanderers (Men’s Premier League). – www.namibiasport.com.na