A SIX-MEMBER Namibian team will leave for Singapore next week to compete at the Youth Olympic Games from August 14 to 26.
The team consists of swimmer Quinton Delie, track athletes Julia Handjene and Ndapandula Nghinaunye, rhythmic gymnast Anica Profitt, wrestler Jason Afrikaner and triathlete Abraham Louw. The team will be accompanied to Singapore by the Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Kazenambo Kazenambo, while Ndeulipulwa Hamutumwa will act as the Chef de Mission and Joan Smit as the team manager.At a press conference at the Namibia National Olympic Committee yesterday, Smit said the team members were well prepared and that they would make their country proud. All the athletes received financial assistance from the NNOC to help them prepare by competing at international training camps and events.’The NNOC secured preparation funding for the athletes because it’s important that we prepare them to the best of our abilities. These are our future Olympic athletes and we must do all we can to get them ready for the 2012 Olympic Games and beyond,’ she said. Smit said that Handjene and Nghinaunye competed at the inaugural ANOCA Youth Games in Morocco, where Handjene just missed out on a medal, coming fourth in the 1 000m final. Nghinaunye also reached the 3 000m final where she came fifth. Profitt and her coach Romiana Kostin visited Bulgaria where they attended an intensive training camp in a ‘very competitive environment’.’I’m very excited about going to the Youth Olympic Games. I will meet a lot of new people and I’m sure I will learn a lot,’ Profitt said. Delie has continued training under his coach Steve Ball at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria and recently excelled at the Namibian Short Course Championships where he won the senior Victor Ludorum trophy. Delie, who is in the middle of Grade 12 exams, especially flew into Namibia yesterday morning and later still had to write an examination under the supervision of Ball. But he said his preparations had gone well and that he was confident of doing well.’I’ve just come off a very hard training camp in Pretoria. I am mentally and physically fit and I’m expecting some good performances in Singapore,’ he said. Abraham Louw has been in great form, competing on the European triathlon circuit, and last weekend beat 76 competitors from 16 countries to win the Tabor ETU Junior European Cup in the Czech Republic. On July 11 he came second amongst 71 athletes from 14 countries at the Encternach ETU Junior European Cup in Luxembourg. Louw, who was out training and arrived late at the press conference, was confident about his chances. ‘There will only be 34 athletes competing in Singapore and I’m feeling really positive about being on the podium,’ he said. Jason Afrikaner, who won a gold medal at the South African Greco Roman Championships earlier this year, has already left for Singapore, in order to adjust to the climate and receive top class training. Dawid Augustyn of the Namibian Wrestling Association said that Afrikaner would train with compatriot Sem Shilimela who won a silver medal at the 2008 Youth Commonweath Games in India, while he would also receive coaching from the Singapore national coach, who is a former Olympian gold medallist. Augustyn sounded upbeat about Afrikaner’s chances. ‘If he gets a favourable draw, I’m reasonably sure that he will end amongst the medals,’ he said. The team will also be accompanied by Namibian soccer referee Reinhold Shikongo who has been selected to officiate at the Youth Olympic Games. Shikongo, who is one of four Namibian FIFA-accredited referees, had to undergo a fitness test in Johannesburg which he passed but he will have to pass a second FIFA test in Singapore before the start of the Games. If he fails this test he will be sent back to Namibia, but Shikongo said he was confident that he would make the grade.’I am fit and ready for any tests that FIFA will have. I am ready and I will make Namibia proud,’ he said. The Namibian team will pay a courtesy call on President Hifikepunye Pohamba at State House today.- namibiasport.com.na
