Simon, Samaria win top awards

JOHANNES ‘Baluka’ Simon and Agnes Samaria were crowned Namibia’s Sportsman and Woman of the Year at the MTC Namibia Sport Awards on Friday night.

Both athletes won medals at the All Africa Games in Algeria in July, with Samaria wining a silver in the 800m and a bronze medal in the 1500m, while Simon won a bronze medal in boxing. It was the fifth time that Samaria had won the title, while Simon, who was also a finalist in the Most Improved Sports Person category, won the title for the first time.Samaria thanked all her supporters and paid tribute to the other finalists.”The competition has improved tremendously and Namibian sports women have excelled at home and abroad.I’d like to tell the other finalists not to give up.Let’s keep on working and training harder and believing in our dreams,” she said.The big winner at the Awards ceremony was soccer, while rugby was the big loser.Soccer won a total of seven awards, while rugby, which had been entered into six categories, won nothing.Soccer won the Best Development Programme which was received by a beaming Barry Rukoro, the acting secretary general of the Namibia Football Association.”This is the award that I wanted,” a delighted Rukoro said.He had to be called up several more times to receive awards on behalf of the Brave Warriors, who were still on their way home after playing Morocco on Wednesday night.The Brave Warriors won the Team of the Year category after qualifying for the African Cup of Nations finals, while their coach Ben Bamfuchile won the Coach of the Year award.The Brave Warriors’ striker Muna Katupose won the Most Improved Sports Person of the Year award, and also shared the Junior Sportsman of the Year award with archer Henk van Blerk.Matthew Katjimune won the Referee of the Year award, while Jacqueline Shipanga shared the Administrator of the year award with Valereis Geldenhuys of gymnastics.Namibia’s WBA Intercontinental boxing champion, Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses won the Sport Achiever of the Year award for the third successive year, Namibia’s young 400m running sensation, Tjipekapora Herunga won the Junior Sports Woman of the Year award, while the trampoline team that won gold at the African Gymnastics Championships won the Junior Team of the Year award.www:namibiasport.com.naIt was the fifth time that Samaria had won the title, while Simon, who was also a finalist in the Most Improved Sports Person category, won the title for the first time.Samaria thanked all her supporters and paid tribute to the other finalists.”The competition has improved tremendously and Namibian sports women have excelled at home and abroad.I’d like to tell the other finalists not to give up.Let’s keep on working and training harder and believing in our dreams,” she said.The big winner at the Awards ceremony was soccer, while rugby was the big loser.Soccer won a total of seven awards, while rugby, which had been entered into six categories, won nothing.Soccer won the Best Development Programme which was received by a beaming Barry Rukoro, the acting secretary general of the Namibia Football Association.”This is the award that I wanted,” a delighted Rukoro said.He had to be called up several more times to receive awards on behalf of the Brave Warriors, who were still on their way home after playing Morocco on Wednesday night.The Brave Warriors won the Team of the Year category after qualifying for the African Cup of Nations finals, while their coach Ben Bamfuchile won the Coach of the Year award.The Brave Warriors’ striker Muna Katupose won the Most Improved Sports Person of the Year award, and also shared the Junior Sportsman of the Year award with archer Henk van Blerk.Matthew Katjimune won the Referee of the Year award, while Jacqueline Shipanga shared the Administrator of the year award with Valereis Geldenhuys of gymnastics.Namibia’s WBA Intercontinental boxing champion, Paulus ‘The Hitman’ Moses won the Sport Achiever of the Year award for the third successive year, Namibia’s young 400m running sensation, Tjipekapora Herunga won the Junior Sports Woman of the Year award, while the trampoline team that won gold at the African Gymnastics Championships won the Junior Team of the Year award.www:namibiasport.com.na