Women’s inline hockey side takes bronze medal

THE Namibian women’s inline hockey team won the bronze medal in the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany on Saturday when they beat Japan 4-1 in the third place playoff.

Namibia played their best match at the tournament and dominated the match from the start. Nadia Schmidt opened the scoring for Namibia and then scored her second goal to put Namibia 2-0 ahead.Japan managed to pull a goal back but further goals by Annemarie Kruger and Heidi Garbade gave Namibia a comfortable victory.Namibia started the tournament off with six round-robin matches against the top inline hockey nations in the world.They lost 3-1 to Finland, with Mari Schmidt scoring Namibia’s goal from an assist by Dannielle Schmidt; 5-1 to Canada, with Julika Pahl scoring from an assist by Stephanie Gantz; 9-0 to the Czech Republic; 4-0 to France; and 6-1 to Great Britain, before drawing 1-all to Japan in their final round-robin match.Suzelle Pronk scored Namibia’s goal against Japan from an assist by Stephanie Gantz.After the initial round of group matches, Namibia, along with Great Britain, Japan and Finland qualified to play for the World Team Cup, while Canada, France and the Czech Republic qualified for the World Championships.Finland won the World Team Cup after beating Great Britain 2-1 in the final.”Team Namibia gained excellent international experience in this tournament and in the process faced three of the top four teams who went on to contest the World Championships.Namibia still has to undergo a steep growth curve to play at the level of the top teams, but it also gained international recognition and respect by playing competitively against a range of international opponents,” team manager Gudrun Denker said.Julika Pahl was recognised as the “Youngest Player of the Tournament.”Nadia Schmidt opened the scoring for Namibia and then scored her second goal to put Namibia 2-0 ahead.Japan managed to pull a goal back but further goals by Annemarie Kruger and Heidi Garbade gave Namibia a comfortable victory.Namibia started the tournament off with six round-robin matches against the top inline hockey nations in the world.They lost 3-1 to Finland, with Mari Schmidt scoring Namibia’s goal from an assist by Dannielle Schmidt; 5-1 to Canada, with Julika Pahl scoring from an assist by Stephanie Gantz; 9-0 to the Czech Republic; 4-0 to France; and 6-1 to Great Britain, before drawing 1-all to Japan in their final round-robin match.Suzelle Pronk scored Namibia’s goal against Japan from an assist by Stephanie Gantz.After the initial round of group matches, Namibia, along with Great Britain, Japan and Finland qualified to play for the World Team Cup, while Canada, France and the Czech Republic qualified for the World Championships.Finland won the World Team Cup after beating Great Britain 2-1 in the final.”Team Namibia gained excellent international experience in this tournament and in the process faced three of the top four teams who went on to contest the World Championships.Namibia still has to undergo a steep growth curve to play at the level of the top teams, but it also gained international recognition and respect by playing competitively against a range of international opponents,” team manager Gudrun Denker said.Julika Pahl was recognised as the “Youngest Player of the Tournament.”