Namibia returns home with three medals

Namibia’s athletes are returning home on Tuesday, 5 August with three medals from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Para-athletes Johanna Benson and Lahja Ishitile both claimed bronze in the long jump and 100m respectively, while Junias Jonas returns home decorated with a silver medal won in the 64kg light welter boxing. Beyond the three medal winners, Namibia impressed on seven fields of play over 11 competition days.

Bowls

As expected before the Games, Namibia’s pairs lawn bowls team was in with a shot at the podium with experienced Douw Calitz and partner Will Esterhuizen.

The pair beat Norfolk Islands, Jersey and Cook Islands in the group phase, only losing to Australia.

In the quarterfinal Namibia caused an upset, beating Australia 19-12, but then unfortunately lost the semi-final against Malaysia. In the playoff for bronze, England was the better team on the day, forcing Calitz and Esterhuizen to settle for fourth place. 

Namibia’s fours team, trips team and singles player missed out on a top two position in their respective groups which would have taken them from the group phase to the quarter final. For singles player Will Esterhuizen this was by the slightest of margins, finishing on equal points with Zambia’s Harry Musonda, but on a lower shot difference. 

Boxing

Junias Jonas was Namibia’s top performer at the games winning silver in the light welter category. On the way to the final Jonas beat Amir Khan (Pakistan), Charles Lumbwe (Zambia), Leroy Hindley (New Zealand) and Sean Duffy (Northern Ireland).

In the final Jonas put up an excellent fight against his opponent, local Scottish boy and Dehli 2010 silver medalist Josh Taylor. Taylor however was the better boxer on the day and claimed gold. 

Namibia’s other boxers also impressed in their respective categories, with Mujandjua Kasuto proceeding to the round of 16 in the 75kg middle weight, Immanuel Shapaka eliminated in the round of 32 in the men’s fly 52kg and Lazarus Shaningwa losing to New Zeeland’s Chad Milnes in the round of 16 of the men’s 60kg light weight category. 

Cycling

In the mountainbike race Heiko Redecker finished a respectable 18th in the men’s event with Vera Adrian ending the women’s race in 16th position. 

Vera Adrian, participating in all three cycling races for Namibia, completed the time trial road event in 27th place with Irene Steyn ending her race against the clock just a few seconds slower than Vera in 28th position.

The cycling road race however was the most gruelling of the Glasgow 2014 cycling events, with an extremely though course with steep climbs, sharp corners, cobble stones and to make things even harder, the worst weather Glasgow had seen during the 11 competition days.

As a result of the rain the roads turned slippery and with the risk of accidents the strongest riders started off the race at warp speed, dropping the less experienced cyclists within the first few kilometres of the 168km race. Out of 127 riders starting the men’s race, only 12 riders managed to finish all 12 laps of the course. Namibia’s Dan Craven impressed with a top 10 finish, ending the race in 9th position after a crash in the last lap which cost him an even better result. The other Namibian men performed exceptionally well in the conditions, with Till Drobish one of the last riders to drop out of the race. 

Marathon

Helalia Johannes lost a podium position in the marathon with 3km to go, up to which time she was still placed in third position. Over the last three kilometres she unfortunately was passed by Australia’s Jess Trengrove and Canada’s Lanni Marchant to end in 5th position.

Namibia’s other runners gave it all, especially Beata Naigambo who drew lot of attention when collapsing five meters before the finish line only to get up again and stumble over the finish line in 11th position, before being rushed off and treated by the race medics. Beata has however recovered well.

Para-sports

The Namibian surprise of the 2014 Commonwealth Games was 17-year-old Lahja Ishitile. Unknown to most Namibians before the Games, Lahja realized the medal prediction her coach had set for her before the 100m T11/12 race. Visually impaired Ishitile raced down the 100m track led by her guide Davido Ndeilenga to finish in 13:48 seconds and claim the bronze medal. 

Ana Kambinda and Johanna Katjikuru achieved season best times in their respective heats of the 100m T11/12 race, but were unfortunately not able to qualify for the final. 

Etchegaray Nguluwe achived a new personal best in the F42/44 discuss with a distance of 28.88m giving him 12th position in his event.

In the powerlifting competition Ruben Soroseb ended 6th after lifting 200kg.

Shooting

Expectations from Namibia’s shooter, Gaby Ahrens, were obviously high, after she won silver four years ago in Delhi. Unfortunately Gaby missed out this time around on qualification for the trap shooting final by three points after the three qualifying rounds, finishing 12th in the qualification. 

On the first competition day of Glasgow 2014, Namibia’s Drikus Coetzee achieved his set target of finishing in the top 30 in the Commonwealth Games triathlon, when he finished the race in 25th position.

Wresting

Angula Shikongo lost his wrestling fight against England’s Leon Rattigan after a respectable performance, and missed out on the opportunity to compete for bronze in the repechage round when Rattigan was defeated in the semifinal. – Proactive

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