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 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.
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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