NAMIBIAN hockey broke new ground when the national women’s team finished ninth overall at the Indoor World Cup in Berlin in February.
Namibia had qualified for the World Cup for the first time in eight years after beating South Africa in the African qualifiers in 2017, and gave a good account of themselves against the world’s best nations.
They struggled in their opening matches on 7 February, losing 6-2 to the Czech Republic and then being thrashed 12-0 by eventual champions Germany, but Namibia came back with a bang the following day.
They drew 3-3 against Australia, with 16-year-old Kiana Cormack scoring a hat trick, and then pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament by beating Ukraine 3-2 after a last minute penalty by Gillian Hermanus.
Namibia’ had to beat Russia in their final group match the following day to qualify for the quarter-finals, but their dreams were shattered when Russia made a late comeback to force a 5-5 draw.
The result meant that Namibia failed to make the quarter-finals, but despite their disappointment they rose to the occasion with a great performance to beat the United States on penalties in the ninth place play-off on 10 February.
Namibia’s keeper, Petro Stoffberg was in excellent form, saving all three of the States’ shots and although Gillian Hermanus’ shot was saved, Kiana Cormack scored to give Namibia a 1-0 win in the shoot-out.
It was Namibia’s best ever performance at the Indoor World Cup, after they had finished 10th at the 2011 World Cup.
The young Cormack also had a brilliant tournament and finished as the joint top goal scorer with nine goals in six matches.
In October, South Africa took revenge when they beat Namibia 3-0 in a women’s indoor hockey test series in Durban. South Africa won the first two tests by the same score, 2-1, but Namibia fought back to draw the third test 3-3.
South Africa secured the series with a 3-0 victory in the fourth test, before Namibia once again fought back to draw the fifth test 3-3.
Despite losing, Namibia, can take hope from the series as they were missing some of their top players, while several new youngsters, including 14-year-old Azaylee Philander and 16-year-old Amber Dercksen, made promising debuts for the national side.
In December, the national women’s team won the three-nation Field Hockey Series Open in Bulawayo to qualify for the next round of the 2020 Olympic Games qualifiers.
Only three nations competed in the women’s tournament – Namibia, Zambia and the hosts Zimbabwe, with Namibia finishing top of the log on six points after winning both their matches.
On 7 December they beat Zambia 3-0 through goals by Jivanka Kruger, Phia Gerber and Kaela Schimming, and the next day they beat Zambia 1-0 through a goal by captain Maggy Mengo.
Men developing exciting young squad
Namibia’s national men’s team did not fare so well, although they are developing an exciting young squad for the future.
At the Field Hockey Series Open in Bulawayo in December, they had a rude awakening when they were thrashed 17-1 by Egypt in their opening match on 7 December.
Namibia, however, showed great character and perseverance to overcome deficits and force draws in their next two matches against Zambia and Zimbabwe. Against Zambia they were trailing 4-2 but forced a draw after two last minute goals by Siabonga Martins and Nico Jacobs, while a last minute goal by Liam Hermanus saw them drawing 3-3 against Zimbabwe.
In August, Namibia trounced Zimbabwe 5-0 in an international Pro Series Indoor (PSI) tournament in Harare.
Namibian coach Trevor Cormack used the opportunity to bring in new young players into the Namibian squad, with more than half of the team still under 21 years old, and they gave a great account of themselves.
Namibia won all five tests with scores of 6-2, 5-0, 6-4, 3-2 and 4-1.
In October, Namibia’s u17 women’s team finished eighth out of 12 nations at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
They were thrashed 8-0 by China in their opening match on 7 October, but the following day caused a major upset by beating Australia 4-3.
Namibia, however, let slip winning positions in their next two matches to draw 2-2 to Mexico and lose 1-0 to Poland.
On 13 October, Namibia could not match their earlier heroics when they lost 5-1 to Australia in a positional play-off match, while they lost 3-1 to Poland the next day to finish eighth overall.
In May, Namibia dominated the u11 and u12 PSI Nationals in Durban, winning a total of four gold, one silver and two bronze medals in seven different categories for u11 and u12 boys and girls.
The Namibian Hawks won three gold and one silver medal, the Namibian Eagles won one gold and one bronze medal, and the Namibian Cranes won one bronze medal. Namibia also got off to a great start at the u13, u14, u16 and u18 PSI Nationals in Cape Town this week when the Hawks won both the boys and girls u14 A categories on Monday.
With the u16 and u18 categories having started this week, Namibia is now well placed to win the overall franchise of the tournament award.
