Both Namibia’s men and women’s u21 hockey teams qualified for the Junior World Cup after winning their pool matches at the Junior Africa Cup in Windhoek on Tuesday.

Namibia’s men beat Zimbabwe 4-1 to go second on the log and secure a place against South Africa in tomorrow’s final. Owen Hatton opened Namibia’s account after only two minutes, and although Matipa Mawhere equalised for Zimbabwe in the second quarter, Hatton immediately restored Namibia’s lead from a short corner.

Namibia finished stronger after the break with Hatton completing his hattrick in the third quarter, while Giovane Handura made it 4-1 in the final quarter. That put Namibia in second place on the log on nine points behind South Africa who earlier beat Egypt 5-0 to remain top on 12 points.

Kenya, meanwhile, beat Zambia 2-1 to go third on five points, but they cannot catch Namibia anymore, who will contest tomorrow’s final against South Africa, regardless of their result against Zambia today.

By reaching the final, Namibia have now secured a top-three place at the Junior World Cup in Chennai and Madurai, India in November. Namibia’s women also qualified for the Women’s Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile in December, after beating Uganda 4-0 on Tuesday.

Goals by Milah Malan, Maryke Kruger, Marlene Coetzee and Marika Neethling gave them a comfortble win which maintained their unbeaten status, putting them level with South Africa on 12 points at the top of the log.

Zimbabwe, who lost 5-0 to South Africa, are third on six points and cannot catch Namibia, who take on South Africa in their final pool match at 15h00 today.

Source: namibian.com.na