What a difficult, unusual year!

The year 2020 has been tough due to the coronavirus pandemic and the world almost came to a standstill, but many athletes and administrators managed to soldier on.
Jesse Kauraisa
JESSE JACKSON KAURAISA

WINDHOEK



From football infighting to cancellation of sport events and top performances by athletes, 2020 had it all.

As we publish our last edition for the year, Namibian Sun takes you down memory lane with some of the top sport stories of the year.



Let the presidency battle

begin (10 January)

The NFA congress was fast approaching and names likely to contest for the presidency were disclosed.

Black Africa's acting chairman Cassius Moeti, former chairman Ranga Haikali and NPL chairman Patrick Kauta were reported to have been nominated to run for the Namibia Football Association (NFA) presidential seat.

It was announced by the Fifa normalisation committee that 10 candidates had been nominated, setting up a fierce presidential battle ahead of the historic congress.



Rössing victory for Armas,

Kauanivi (10 February)

The 29th edition of the Rössing Uranium Marathon produced thrilling results in February.

Alina Armas and Mynhardt Kauanivi were the overall winners of the 29th edition of the Rössing Uranium Marathon at Swakopmund.



Gravity Cup games come alive

(10 February)

The 2020 Namib Poultry Gravity Cup tourney officially kicked off at the Windhoek High School that weekend and schools vied for top positions in rugby, football and netball.



NFA gets new leaders (24 February)

The Namibia Football Association's (NFA) 28th congress elected Ranga Haikali as the association's president. Haikali said he hoped the Namibia Premier League would finally comply with the Fifa normalisation committee's directives in order for football to start.



Wrestling postponed (12 March)

Namibia's Olympic Games hopeful, wrestler Romeo Goliath, had to wait a bit longer after the Morocco championships, scheduled for that month, were postponed due to the coronavirus.



Boxing stables give back (24 April)

Young and old boxers benefited from donations from two boxing stables in April. MTC Nestor Sunshine Tobias Boxing and Fitness Academy and MTC Salute Boxing Academy donated hand sanitiser and food parcels to the value of N$70 000 to local boxers in Katutura.



Craven on training methods (5 May)

The 2020 Namibian road cycling national champion, Dan Craven, said with sport events currently cancelled or postponed, athletes should not train at full speed, but instead refocus.



Lively Lions battle extinction (18 June)

The 2018/19 MTC Namibia Premier League champions Black Africa's chairman, Lakka Goagoseb, said the club did not know whether it would retain most of its players after the coronavirus pandemic. Black Africa remains a divided club with some members joining the NFA Top-tier league and others remaining with the expelled NPL.



NPL left in the shadows (20 July)

A decision which everyone was dreading was made on Saturday when the NFA expelled the NPL from its structures.

The NFA 16th extraordinary congress moved to terminate the membership of the Namibia Premier League (NPL), its affiliate members and its executive committee.



MTC HopSol League postponed

(14 August)

The MTC HopSol Youth Soccer League organisers postponed the league.

That followed President Hage Geingob's announcement that week that Namibia would revert to stage three of the lockdown regulations due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases.



Geingob lauds Boois's

contribution to football (14 September)

Tributes flooded in from football fans from all over the country after the death of popular Otjiwarongo-born football stalwart Seth Orlando Boois.

One such fan was President Hage Geingob, who expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and applauded Boois's contribution to the football fraternity.



Masilingi conquers the track

(5 October)

Namibian sprint sensation Beatrice Masilingi ran the race of her life to scoop gold in the women's 400m race at the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya with a personal best of 50.99 second.







Victorious Demolisher looks

ahead (16 November)

Lukas 'The Demolisher' Ndafoluma said he used his fight against Christian Utelo as a warm-up for bigger things to come.

The MTC Salute Boxing Academy fighter stopped his opponent with a fifth-round technical knockout in their middleweight bout scheduled for eight rounds.



You win some, you lose some

(14 December)

The MTC Together as One Boxing Bonanza 2 wrapped up the local boxing programme, with Jeremiah Nakathila winning the main event. However, it was a major loss for Mike Shonena, who was beaten for the first time.



Looser, Steyn victorious (14 December)

For a record sixth consecutive time, Swiss cyclist Konny Looser won the Nedbank Desert Dash, crossing the finish line in a time of 14:45:21.

Looser overcame the challenge of Namibian Martin Freyer, who finished the race in 15:05:48. Freyer was followed in third place by South African Dusty Day in a time of 16:34:28. Day was last year's runner up.

The women's category winner, Namibian cyclist Irene Steyn, emerged victorious with a time of 17:52:35.

She outpaced Genevieve Weber (18:15:49) and Wilmien Chamberlain (19:12:49), who finished second and third respectively.

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Premier League: Fulham 2 vs 1 Brentford Katima Mulilo: 22° | 36° Rundu: 20° | 31° Eenhana: 21° | 31° Oshakati: 21° | 31° Ruacana: 20° | 31° Tsumeb: 19° | 26° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 23° Omaruru: 20° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 19° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 12:28, High tide: 06:39, Low Tide: 00:56, High tide: 18:52 Swakopmund: 15° | 18° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 12:26, High tide: 06:37, Low Tide: 00:54, High tide: 18:50 Walvis Bay: 15° | 24° Wind speed: 23km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 12:26, High tide: 06:36, Low Tide: 00:54, High tide: 18:49 Rehoboth: 20° | 30° Mariental: 22° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 36° Aranos: 20° | 34° Lüderitz: 14° | 24° Ariamsvlei: 22° | 36° Oranjemund: 15° | 24° Luanda: 25° | 27° Gaborone: 19° | 27° Lubumbashi: 17° | 33° Mbabane: 13° | 24° Maseru: 12° | 25° Antananarivo: 14° | 30° Lilongwe: 22° | 29° Maputo: 19° | 26° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 22° Durban: 16° | 23° Johannesburg: 15° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 20° | 31° Harare: 17° | 30° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.41 | EUR to NAD 18.67 | CNY to NAD 2.42 | USD to NAD 17.3 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.25 | EGP to NAD 0.34 | KES to NAD 0.13 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.63 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.03 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.81 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.4 | USD to EGP 49.24 | USD to KES 129.2 | USD to NGN 1680.41 | USD to ZAR 17.31 | USD to ZMW 27.07 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1858.03 Down -1.09% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14296.93 Down -0.02% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 31045.26 Up +0.82% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9878.53 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 698.42/OZ UP +1.29% | Copper US$ 4.41/lb UP +4.45% | Zinc US$ 3 069.00/T UP 2.99% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 75.98/BBP UP +0.64% | Platinum US$ 992.17/OZ UP +0.80% Sport results: Premier League: Fulham 2 vs 1 Brentford Weather: Katima Mulilo: 22° | 36° Rundu: 20° | 31° Eenhana: 21° | 31° Oshakati: 21° | 31° Ruacana: 20° | 31° Tsumeb: 19° | 26° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 23° Omaruru: 20° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 19° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 12:28, High tide: 06:39, Low Tide: 00:56, High tide: 18:52 Swakopmund: 15° | 18° Wind speed: 19km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 12:26, High tide: 06:37, Low Tide: 00:54, High tide: 18:50 Walvis Bay: 15° | 24° Wind speed: 23km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 12:26, High tide: 06:36, Low Tide: 00:54, High tide: 18:49 Rehoboth: 20° | 30° Mariental: 22° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 36° Aranos: 20° | 34° Lüderitz: 14° | 24° Ariamsvlei: 22° | 36° Oranjemund: 15° | 24° Luanda: 25° | 27° Gaborone: 19° | 27° Lubumbashi: 17° | 33° Mbabane: 13° | 24° Maseru: 12° | 25° Antananarivo: 14° | 30° Lilongwe: 22° | 29° Maputo: 19° | 26° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 22° Durban: 16° | 23° Johannesburg: 15° | 26° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 20° | 31° Harare: 17° | 30° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 22.41 | EUR to NAD 18.67 | CNY to NAD 2.42 | USD to NAD 17.3 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.25 | EGP to NAD 0.34 | KES to NAD 0.13 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.63 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.03 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 132.81 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.4 | USD to EGP 49.24 | USD to KES 129.2 | USD to NGN 1680.41 | USD to ZAR 17.31 | USD to ZMW 27.07 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1858.03 Down -1.09% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14296.93 Down -0.02% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 31045.26 Up +0.82% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9878.53 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 698.42/OZ UP +1.29% | Copper US$ 4.41/lb UP +4.45% | Zinc US$ 3 069.00/T UP 2.99% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 75.98/BBP UP +0.64% | Platinum US$ 992.17/OZ UP +0.80%