Namibia’s bowlers, boxers and swimmers all made a great start to the Commonwealth Games which got underway in Glasgow, Scotland, on Thursday.
By yesterday afternoon some of Namibia’s bowlers and boxers were still in the running to win medals, while some swimmers had reached the semi-finals and broken national records.
In bowls, Namibia’s women’s pairs team of Diana Viljoen and Amanda Steenkamp made a great comeback after losing their opening match 2-0 (6-3, 4-3) to England’s pair of Amy Pharaoh and Sian Honnor on Thursday.
The next day, they bounced back with a tie-break victory against Rebeccah Rixon and Connie-Leigh Rixon of Malta (4-3, 0-8, 1-0), and then pulled off another tie-break win against Thabelo Muvhango and Jacqui Janse van Rensburg of South Africa (7-4, 4-6, 1-0).
Yesterday they recorded another tie-break win against one of the tournament favourites, India (7-5, 1-10, 3-0), while they beat Tonga 2-0 (4-3, 4-2).
That put Namibia on 12 points at the top of the log with England in Section B but they narrowly missed out on the semifinals after England won the group with a better set differential.
Viljoen and Steenkamp were both elated with their win against South Africa.
“We really respect South Africa as a bowling nation, they are among the best in the world, so we love the way they play, and we learn from them. It’s such an honour to beat them,” Viljoen said.
“Everything went into this game. Amanda played a beautiful winning bowl on the last end, so we are very happy with that performance,” she said.
Steenkamp said: “It was stressful, but luckily we won the toss, so we could make it a very short end. They struggle a bit on the short ends, and luckily my first bowl was on the jack, so then Diana just had to protect it.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever played indoors, because I only play on grass, although they’ve put up a fish net to increase the speed at the coast,” she said.
Viljoen elaborated about the fish net green at Walvis Bay.
“We really have the need for speed and for us being in the desert, water is always a problem, so we built a bowling green by removing all the grass and replacing it with an anchovy net.
“We’re a coastal harbour town, so we’ve got piles of anchovy nets lying next to the harbour and it’s quite cheap for us. It’s as fast as lightning. We love it and that’s the closest we get to practising on this kind of speed, because we don’t have indoor facilities at home,” she said.
In the men’s singles competition, Wayne Wentzel is also well-placed after two wins and two losses in his opening four matches.
On Thursday, he beat Diza Mphotho of Botswana 1.5-0.5 (7-7, 6-5), but the next day lost 2-0 to Aaron Wilson of Australia (11-3, 6-3).
On Saturday, he went down 2-0 to Jason Greenslade of Guernsey (7-3, 11-2), but struck back with a win yesterday after beating Taylor Greechan of Jersey 2-1 (3-8, 9-2, 1-0).
BOXERS SHINE
Namibia’s boxers got off to a great start as Philip Haoseb and Tryagain Ndevelo won their opening bouts in contrasting styles.
Haoseb dominated his 55kg fight against Siboniso Vilakati of Eswatini to win by a unanimous 5-0 decision.
Speaking to Nampa after the victory, Haoseb expressed pride in representing Namibia and said he was eager for the challenges ahead.
“Today’s fight went well, and I’m delighted to have won my first bout at the Commonwealth Games. I have three million Namibians on my shoulders, and I’m proud to represent them. One fight is done, and I’m ready for the next one,” he said.
Ndevelo, meanwhile, won his 60kg fight on a walkover after his opponent, Anthony Joseph of Trinidad and Tobago, failed to arrive in time for the fight.
SWIMMERS IN FINE FORM
Namibia’s swimmers, meanwhile, gave some great performances, reaching some semi-finals, while breaking some national records in the process.
On Saturday, Oliver Durand won his 100m butterfly heat in 54.52 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals, while he broke his own national open record of 55.30 in the process.
In the semi-finals, he once again broke the open record with a time of 53.98, but failed to reach the final after finishing seventh.
Luke Beukes, who came fourth in his heat in 56.80, and Jose Canjulo, who came seventh in his heat in 55.47, both missed out on the semi-finals.
On Friday, Durand just missed out on the semi-finals in the 200m individual medley after coming fourth in his heat and 10th overall in 2:03.09.
Yesterday, Ronan Wantenaar came second in his 50m breaststroke heat in a time of 27.13 seconds to qualify for the semi-finals. It was the third-fastest time of the heats, with only Michael Houlie of SA (26.53) and Sam Williamson of Australia (26.75) going faster.
Last night Wantenaar once again excelled, coming third in his 50m breaststroke semifinal heat in 27.21 seconds to qualify for the final which takes place tonight.
On Saturday, Jessica Humphrey came fifth in her 100m backstroke heat in a new Namibian open record of 1:01.83 to qualify for the semi-finals, where she came seventh in 1:02.34 to miss out on the final.
Yesterday, Humphrey won her 100m freestyle heat in 58.29 seconds, but missed out on a place in the semi-finals.
Beukes reached the semi-finals of the men’s 50m after finishing fifth in his heat in 22.94 seconds, while he came seventh in the semi-final heat in 22.85.
