NAMIBIA finished 19th overall on the medal standings at the All-Africa Games with a total of seven medals by Saturday morning.
The All-Africa Games were scheduled to end yesterday, pending the conclusion of the soccer final and the closing ceremony at the Zimpeto Stadium in Maputo.Namibia won one gold, one silver and five bronze medals. It was Namibia’s best performance at the All-Africa Games since their debut in Cairo 1991 when they won 13 medals.In 1995 Namibia won eight medals but missed gold; in 1999 Namibia won three medals; in 2003 Namibia won seven medals without gold and in 2007 Namibia won three medals.Namibia’s blind para-athlete Ananias Shikongo became the first Namibian athlete to win a gold medal since 1991 when he won the Men’s T11 200m final. He now joins Frank Fredericks, Harry Simon and Jörg Lindemeier as Namibia’s only gold medallists at the All Africa Games.Shikongo also won a bronze medal in the T11 400m when he finished third behind two Angolan athletes in a new Namibian record of 53,07 seconds.Abrahm Louw won silver in the men’s triathlon, when he finished 43 seconds behind South Africa’s Erhard Wolfaardt.Namibian athlete Tjipekapora Herunga won two bronze medals, finishing third in both the women’s 400m and 200m finals.In the 400m final she finished third behind Amantle Montsho of Botswana and Ami Thiam of Senegal in a new Namibian record time of 51,85 seconds. After the race her time was given as 51,84 on the giant screen at the stadium, but later on the official website it was changed to 51,85 seconds.In the 200m final Herunga finished third behind Oludamola Osayomi of Nigeria and Anim Vida of Ghana. In the process she once again set a new Namibian record time of 23,50 seconds.In the T12 200m final Namibia para-athlete Martin Aloysius won bronze after beating a Nigerian athlete by a split second to finish third.In the women’s Half Marathon Helalia Johannes also won a bronze medal after a great performance. She was lying fourth for most of the race but overtook Penina Arusei of Kenya with less than 500m to go to win the bronze medal in a season’s best time of 1:11:12. South Africa dominated the medal standings to finish on top with a total of 151 medals (60 gold, 52 silver, 39 bronze).Nigeria came second with a total of 80 medals (27 gold, 22 silver and 31 bronze), while Egypt came third with a total of 55 medals (27 gold, 12 silver, 16 bronze). They were followed by Algeria who won a total of 57 medals but had less gold medals than Tunisia, Kenya (51 in total), Senegal (27), Cameroon (25) and Ethiopia (26).Angola, who came 10th overall with a total of 22 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, 9 bronze) was the second best SADC nation after South Africa.SADC’s other top medallists were Zimbabwe who were 11th with a total of 13 medals (5 gold, 7 silver, 1 bronze); Mauritius who came 12th with 13 medals (4 gold, 2 silver, 7 bronze); Botswana who came 15th with 15 medals (2 gold, 4 silver, 9 bronze); and Seychelles who came 17th with 13 medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 8 bronze).- namibiasport.com.na
