Namibia: Women's hockey team make history 
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| Africa |
September 20, 2004 
The Namibian
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THE Namibian under 21 women hockey team made history by winning a bronze medal since independence, when they beat Nigeria 4-3 on penalty strokes during the Junior African Nations Cup which was concluded in South Africa last Thursday.
South Africa got the gold medal, with Zimbawe taking the silver.
Namibian hockey teams have never won a medal during an international competition since Namibia gained independence in 1990.
The Namibians played to a goalless draw after full-time and went into a similar stalemate after extra-time, at the event which took place in Pretoria.
Namibian goalkeeper Josephina Kheibes made a stunning save to deny the Nigerians to equalise, which led to the victory.
Coach Erwin Handura told The Namibian Sport yesterday that some of his players have never played on an artificial (Astro) turf, and struggled throughout the competition which started last Monday.
He said they had ball possession and numerous opportunities through penalty corners that were awarded to them, but the forwards failed to hit the net.
"We needed to score through those penalty corners but we were denied the goals through interceptions, while our variations did not go the way we planned," he said.
He said while the competition was an eye opener for his players, they also fought hard for the third place after losing out to both South Africa and drawing against Zimbabwe, the other two countries which were in the competition.
"They all gave good performances considering the conditions and I am glad that we came back with the medal after all these years," he said.
For Namibia, captain Medelein Lessing, Margaret Mengo, Frieda Kalondo and Megan Lumley were on target during the penalty shoot-out, while Kheibes made two saves.
Theodora Hamutjira missed the first shot as she struck the upright.
Handura said Kheibes had a brilliant tournament overall and she was the only Namibian named as Player of the Match, in their game against Zimbabwe last week.
Namibia earlier lost 1-0 to Nigeria, while they were also hammered 5-0 by the host country.
They drew 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe, after they (Namibia) led until the last minute, only to allow their opponents to equalise.
Handura said most of the players who played at the tournament, went through the development ranks, and believes that they will further develop into formidable senior team players within the next two years.
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