RABAT – Vera Adrian claimed Namibia’s fifth 2019 African Games medal yesterday when winning the women’s individual time trial final in Benslimane, Morocco.
All five of the country’s medals thus far have come in cycling. Tristan de Lange has two gold medals to his name in the men’s mountain biking disciplines, while his teammate Alex Miller won silver and bronze in the same events.
Adrian, the only Namibian female cycling representative at the Games, clocked 48 minutes and 34 seconds of a 14km route that had two loops to complete the 28km course.
Namibia’s cyclists are set to compete in the road race for women tomorrow and Thursday for men in the same town.
Leading amateur fighter Jonas Junias Jonas is two fights away from fulfilling his ambition after reaching the semi-finals of the 64kg lightweight boxing category at the African Games (AG) in Morocco on Sunday evening.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist beat Wahid Abdul Omar of Ghana with a 4-1 scoreline from the five judges, and is looking to go better than his AG silver achievement in Congo-Brazzaville four years ago.
Before his quarter-final fight against Omar, the quick-punching Jonas beat Ramadan Abdelkawi of Egypt 5-0 in the preliminary rounds, and then went on to beat Alseny Sylla of Guinea in the round of 16 by the same score.
Already guaranteed bronze for reaching the semis, Jonas will now fight Abdelhaq Nadir of Morocco slated for this evening at the Al Amal Indoor Sports Centre in Rabat.
Another Namibian boxer still left in the competition is Tryagain Ndevelo, who got a bye in the preliminary rounds of the 57kg featherweight category before progressing to the round of 16 after defeating Anani Hounkpatin of Togo 5-0 to book a quarter-final date with Zambian Everisto Mulenga. They were due to fight later yesterday.
Shottist Ian Kriel started off the competition with an impressive performance in the category trap men on 75 targets and trap men on 75 targets minimum qualification score (MQS). Kriel finished in second position on day one with a score of 66 shots, while first position went to Algeria’s Bilal Chabane, who shot 73 targets and Abdelmounaim Bouain of Morocco finished third with a score of 65 shots.
Out of the 14 shooters from eight countries competing in the trap men competition on 75 targets, the Namibian duo of Hendrik Roos and Frans Venter finished seventh and ninth, respectively.
Roos had a score of 61 shots, while Venter had 59 shots out of the 75 targets.
Younes Ali Haj of Morocco finished top on the scoreboard with a score of 74 shots from the 75 targets, while Ahmed Kamar of Egypt was second with a score of 73, while Algeria’s Fouad Abid locked up third spot also with a score of 73 shots.
The trap men’s finals were due for completion yesterday at Les Chênes Club – Arjat in Sale, Morocco.
Meanwhile, Namibia’s African Games mixed chess team on Sunday finished in sixth place out of 20 countries which competed in the mixed team events in Casablanca.
The Namibian athletes who comprised Nicola Tjaronda, Lishen Mentile, Charles Eichab and Dante Beukes lost their opening match on Saturday at the competition against host Morocco.
The team, however, pulled themselves together after the defeat, and went on to win two matches against Mali and Ethiopia.
Out of the five games they competed in on the opening day, they lost two more against Nigeria and their neighbours Angola.
On day two (Sunday) of the mixed team events, the Namibian quartet played four matches against Cameroon, Mauritius, Malawi and Cape Verde, of which they won three matches.
They only lost against Malawi, and were within striking distance of a bronze medal, which was won by Zimbabwe.
Team Namibia finished sixth, level on 10 points with Botswana in fifth place, while Nigeria finished fourth on 11 points.
Egypt won gold after collecting 17 points from nine games, while Algeria took silver on 16 points, and Zimbabwe occupied third spot with 12 points.
Speaking to Nampa on Sunday, Team Namibia’s coach, Otto Nakapunda, said the team punched above their weight.
“We are very excited about the results because finishing sixth above the heavyweights in Africa like Morocco, Ethiopia, Malawi and Kenya is a big achievement for these players as well as Namibian chess,” he beamed.
Chess in Namibia, he added, has grown over the years, despite having minimum resources, and can only expect good things, going forward, because the foundation that was laid 10 years ago is now yielding results.
“Our goal at the competition was to finish in the top 10, but being in medal contention on our last day is a good step that we have to build on,” Nakapunda said.
Last but not least, Jolene Jacobs is the only Namibian sprinter competing on the track to a have made it from the heats yesterday.
Jacobs finished second in heat six of the women’s 100m at the Olympic stadium- Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex, in a time of 12 seconds, just behind the winner Basant Hemida of Egypt who ran a time of 11,86 seconds.
Globine Mayova fell short of requirements after placing fifth in her 100m heat, while Maseko Gilbert Hainuca was disqualified for a false start and Lionel Coetzee finished last in the men’s equivalent races.
