The Namibian Masters Championships, one of the highlights on the national pool calendar, will be held at the Windhoek Showgrounds this weekend.
The event will see Namibia’s top masters pool players aged over 50 in action, and with defending champion Cyril Moller unlikely to compete, the title will be up for grabs.
Moller this week said he might not be back to defend his title due to work commitments.
“I’ve got some work responsibilities to attend to – I’m still trying to play but work comes first. Even if I can’t make it, I’ll make a turn there just to motivate the players,” he said.
“There will be 32 masters players competing at the Windhoek Officers Pool Club at the showgrounds. It will be a two-day event, starting at 09h00 on Friday, as well as Saturday, while we plan to finish at about 20h00 on Saturday,” he said.
“We have about 25 entries so far – we have some challenges in accommodating the players from outside Windhoek, but we are working on that,” he added.
If Moller does not play, several other masters players could come into the reckoning to win the title.
From Windhoek, they include Jaco Kotze, Charles Brand and veteran Elfrido de Klerk, who is the oldest participant at the age of 64.
Colin Bougardt from Rundu is also a contender as is Likeus Nauyoma from Swakopmund.
The Namibian Masters title is contested by both male and female players, and several women will also be among the favourites.
They include Cindy Engelbrecht, Celeste Espach and Marti Kotze from Windhoek, and Elrizza Koopman from Swakopmund.
Kotze is a strong contender, according to Moller.
“Marti is a dangerous player – she was the only one who beat me at last year’s tournament. She’s a very good player and most men struggle when they play against Marti because she’s already won several mixed competitions before,” he said.
Moller said the format of the tournament will be on a round robin basis and not on a knockout basis to give everyone a fair chance to win the title.
“The tournament is played on a round robin basis, so we work on points, with the top points scorer winning the title. I previously suggested it because sometimes you can be off on one game but then you can recover on the next game, so we decided to rather use that system because it benefits everybody. Even if you don’t do well on the first day but then win everything on the second day, you can still go on to win the title,” he said.
The winner will walk away with N$2 500, the runner-up N$1 500 and the third placed player N$1 000.
“Sponsorships remain a problem, especially because many potential sponsors still see pool as a bar sport or associate it with alcohol, but we are working hard and hope to get some new sponsors soon,” Moller said.
Meanwhile, the Namibian league is well underway and is due to be completed by the end of October.
Six teams compete in the Erongo coastal league and 15 in a central league in Windhoek, while the top eight central teams and top four coastal teams will qualify for the national playoffs to determine the 2026 Namibia National Blackball League winners.
The pool season will end with the Namibian Champion of Champions tournament, which is scheduled to take place at Swakopmund at the end of November.
