Rundu readies for Newspaper Cup

The Rundu Sports Stadium in Kavango East Region has received minor renovations in preparation for the 16th edition of The Namibian Newspaper Cup in March. The Kavango East Region will host the under-20 youth football tournament for the first time. It takes place annually over the Easter weekend. A combined Kavango Region won the cup in Tsumeb in 2014, and the Omusati Region won it in Outjo in 2015. The Kavango Region was split into two regions in 2013, following a recommendation of the Fourth Delimitation Commission, but most sports activities still took place under the banner of the Kavango Region. The two Kavango regions – East and West – started participating in the tournament as individual regions in 2015. Speaking to Nampa last Monday, Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service Sports Officer in the two Kavango regions, Someno Erastus said the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Newspaper Cup has thus far worked on all the issues that were identified by the inspection team in 2015. “When the inspection team, consisting of officials from the Namibia Football Association (NFA), Sports Commission and The Namibian Newspaper came to Rundu, they told us our stadium pavilion was very old and need repainting. We also needed benches for the technical team and players on the substitution list. “As we speak, we have done all that was required. Come Easter weekend, we will be ready to host the most prestigious youth football tournament in the country,” he said. Erastus added that the 500-seater stadium would soon be getting its first floodlights since its inception in 1992. “We are currently having all the equipment that is needed for our floods lights, and are only missing the poles to mount the flood lights on. We got 48 lights from our line ministry in Windhoek and we are currently waiting for quotations on the poles. “Our technicians told us that we will only need 16 floodlights at the stadium, but we are planning on putting up 40 lights at the football field and the remaining eight will be used at the netball and basketball courts,” said Erastus. The newspaper cup inspection team is expected to visit Rundu from January 28 to 29. -NAMPA HESRON KAPANGA