Namibia returned from Reiden, Switzerland, with two fifth-place finishes after four days of international fistball from 23 to 26 July.
Both the u18 men’s team and the women’s national team competed against high-level international opposition and produced several impressive performances.
U18 team battles to fifth
The Namibian u18 team finished fifth at the u18 World Championship, matching the country’s previous best result in the competition.
Germany claimed the title ahead of Austria, Brazil and Switzerland, while Namibia finished ahead of Chile and New Zealand. The young Namibian side faced some of the world’s strongest youth teams, losing to Germany, Austria and Brazil and going down 3-1 against Switzerland.
Namibia responded strongly in the remaining matches, defeating Chile twice 3-1 and recording two convincing 3-0 victories over New Zealand. The results secured fifth place and made for a successful World Championship campaign.
Women narrowly miss semi-finals
The women’s national team came even closer to a major breakthrough at the Women’s European Championship. Namibia was granted special permission to compete despite not being a European nation and finished fifth in the tournament.
Germany won the European title ahead of Austria, Switzerland and Serbia. Namibia’s closest battle came against Serbia, with the two teams meeting twice in succession.
Namibia won the first encounter 3-2 in a thrilling match, putting themselves within touching distance of the semi-finals. However, Serbia came back in the decisive second meeting and edged Namibia 3-2, narrowly ending their hopes of reaching the final four.
Despite missing out on the semi-finals, the performance showed that Namibia can compete with established European teams.
With both national teams finishing fifth, Namibia leaves Reiden with valuable international experience and plenty of positives to build on for the future.
