AHF: Namibia well-placed at Junior Africa Cup

23 April 2025

Both Nambia’s men and women’s u21 hockey teams are currently second on the log at the Junior Africa Cup in Windhoek and well-placed to qualify for the Junior World Cup later this year.

The top three men and women’s teams will qualify for the 2025 Junior World Cup, with the men to play in Chennai and Madurai, India in November, while the women will compete in Santiago, Chile in December.

In the men’s category, South Africa are the hot favourites to win the Africa title after winning their opening four matches in style, scoring 32 goals and conceding only four.

They beat Zambia 12-3, Namibia 8-0, Zimbabwe 7-1 and Egypt 5-0 to lead the log on 12 points, but Namibia went second after winning two of their opening three matches.  In their opening match on Friday, they got off to a great start with a come-from-behind 3-1 win against Egypt.

In a hard-fought encounter, the score was still goalless at halftime, but Egypt edged ahead through a field goal by Basel Abdelmonem midway through the third quarter. Namibia, however, made a stunning comeback in the final quarter with Owen Hatton equalising while two short corner goals by JP Britz sealed a memorable victory for Namibia.

The next day they went down 8-0 to SA, with Jayden Brooker the star of the show with six goals, but on Monday, Namibia bounced back with a 5-3 victory against Kenya.

In an entertaining encounter, Namibia went 3-2 ahead by halftime and 4-3 by the end of the third quarter, before easing to a 5-3 victory.  Captain JP Britz scored two short corner goals, while James de Jager, Jack Fourie and Abraham Graham each scored a field goal, with Matthew Momanyi, Vincent Wesonga and Nirmaan Mudher replying for Kenya.

After the match captain Britz said they are in high spirits and fancied their chances of reaching the final.

“At the moment, we’re quite positive. We did the hard yards against Egypt on day one when we beat them 3-1, and today was a huge result for us winning 5-3 against Kenya. So at the moment, we’re on six points, looking good and feeling very positive,” he said.

Britz said their opening day victory against Egypt was a special day for Namibian hockey.

“It was a very special day for me being the captain of the team and being able to lead the team to victory. It was quite a tight game and we went down 1-0 in the third quarter, but then fortunately we scored all three our goals in the last quarter and just kept our heads up,” he said.

“We did everything we needed to do from management side and it was just a very good game overall. I’m very happy with the result and it was a very special day for Namibian hockey,” he added.

South Africa also lead the women’s competition on 12 points after winning their opening four matches in style, scoring 33 goals and not conceding any.  Namibia, however, are in hot pursuit, lying second on nine points, after winning their opening three matches.

On Friday they beat Kenya 3-0 after two goals by Tisha Semedo and one by Maryke Neethling, while they stunned Zimbabwe with a 6-0 victory the next day, with Onique Bezuidenhout and Mia Karsten scoring two goals each and Marika Neethling and Maryke Kruger one each.

On Monday evening they were in irrisistible form as they thumped Zambia 11-1 after leading 6-0 by half time. Neethling led the way with a hat-trick, while Alice Rowles, Mia Karsten and Azaylee Philander each scored two, and Anica Higgs and Marlene Coetzee one goal each.

Namibia were due to play Uganda last night while their eagerly awaited top-of-the-log clash against South Africa takes place tomorrow at 15h00.

* On Tuesday, both Namibia’s men and women’s teams qualified for the finals, to secure their places at the 2025 Junior World Cup. Namibia’s men beat Zimbabwe 4-1 to book a place in the final against SA, while Namibia’s women, who beat Uganda 4-0, will also meet SA in the final.

Source: namibian.com.na