Namibia: Namibians Come Home in Glory

Carlos Kambaekwa

6 May 2011

Windhoek — After an intensive three months of competition in the highly competitive South African Yellow Pages Athletics series – the leg weary but jubilant Namibian contingent returned home yesterday.

The 12-member Namibian athletics team won the hearts of the South Africans with splendid performances that saw no less than two Namibian records tumbling.

Namibia’s sensation sprinter Tjipekapora Herunga shattered her own record when she set a new record in the 400-meters sprint at the Inter Provincial athletics meet in Germiston, near Johannesburg in a time of 52.31 seconds.

Middle-distance runner Daniel Ngipandulwa erased the 800-meter record previously held by Mao Tjiroze. The Ohahengwena-based athlete set a new record of 01:46:6-2 in the men’s 800 meters at the South African Senior Championships in Durban.

Tjiroze’s record stood at 01:47:28. Meanwhile, Herunga, Ngipandulwa and sprinter Globina Mayova are the first Namibian athletes to qualify for the All Africa Games in Mozambique later this year.

Athletes still have a chance to qualify for the continental showpiece during the Southern African Senior Champions to be hosted by Mozambique in July this year.

Welcoming the athletes in Windhoek yesterday, Deputy Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport & Culture, Pohamba Shifeta, applauded the athletes for hoisting the Namibian flag high in South Africa.

“We must maintain the cream of our athletes with the ultimate aim to qualify for the All Africa and Olympic games. Its clear now that we have a team capable of putting up a great show at international level,” charged the youthful lawmaker.

Shifeta urged corporate business to plough more money into sports development, adding that his directorate is unable to implement its targeted sports development programmes as a result of insufficient funds.

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