Until independence, players for Namibia were also eligible to represent South Africa with Namibian born Springboks including Jan Ellis and, more recently, Percy Montgomery. Various players pursue their rugby careers in South Africa and in a number of European countries.
The history of cricket in Namibia is closely linked with South African cricket. After independence, the newly formed Namibian Cricket Board set about developing the game throughout the country, and also arranged visits from various English county teams and The Netherlands. They were granted associate membership of the ICC in 1992. Namibia played six matches in the 2003 World Cup and lost all of them. However they had a credible match against England where they were ahead of the English under the Duckworth-Lewis method for twelve overs and Jan Berrie Burger almost mastered an upset with 85 off 86 balls. Rudi van Vuuren took 5 wickets, and later went on to feature in the Rugby World Cup for Namibia that same year.
Namibia qualified for the ICC World T20 in UAE and Oman in 2021 where the team won its first ever world cup match against Netherlands followed by victory against Ireland to qualify for Super 12s. The victory against Ireland was the first ever win by Namibia against a Full member in an official international match. In the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, Namibia registered their most famous victory by beating Sri Lanka by 55 runs at Geelong.[2] However, they could not the repeat the feat of the 2021 T20 World cup as they lost their next two matches to Netherlands and UAE.
Former South African all-rounder David Wiese is Namibia's most high-profile cricketer and is a regular in various T20 Leagues, most notably in Pakistan Super League where he plays for Lahore Qalandars. In the recently concluded IPL 2023 Auctions, David Wiese was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders.
Except for a few cases, cricket in Namibia has been confined to the Afrikaans and German speaking populations, with the indigenous Africans who constitute 80% of the national population showing hardly any interest.
Athletics
The most prominent Namibian athlete, and one of the most prominent people in general, is the former sprinter Frankie Fredericks. He is the first Olympic medalist from the country, and won four Olympic silver medals in total.[3] He also became world champion in 1993 and won an additional three silver medal at the World Championships, all in the 200 metres event. He holds the African record in this event with 19.68 seconds, and held the African record in 100 metres until May 2006.[4]
Sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi attended the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Although disallowed from their favourite 400 metres event due to naturally high testosterone levels,[5] they both ran the 200 metres and qualified for the final, the first female Namibian athletes to do so at the Olympics.[6] Christine Mboma won a silver at Tokyo Olympics 2020 in women's 200m.
The Namibian Equestrian Federation (NAMEF) was founded in 1958 by Mr. E Homan, E. Holtz and I. Voigts. It was originally known as the South West African Horse Society and changed its name to NAMEF after Namibia gained independence from the Republic of South Africa. They are affiliated to the Namibian Sport Commission (NSC), the Namibian National Olympic Committee (NNOC) and the International body Federation Equestrian International (FEI) since 1992, representing the horse sport on a National and International level.[10]
Namibian Endurance Riding
Namibia Equestrian Federation is the official Federation for endurance riding in Namibia. Regular endurance competitions and rides throughout the country are being held under the governance of NAMEF
Icestock in Namibia
The Icestocksport Association of Namibia was founded in 2004. The men's team won the Africa Cup on 7 occasion (2005, 2007, 2009,[11] 2015, 2017,[12][13] 2019, 2022[14][15]). The ladies' team won the Africa Cup in 2013 and 2017.[12] In 2020 the men's team won the silver medal at the World Championship in group B[16] and Bronze in 2022.
Lawn Bowls in Namibia
Lawn bowls was one of the first sport codes in Namibia to produce a world champion. Douw Calitz was the winner of this title when he emerged victor of the World Champion of Champions tournament in 2003 in Moama, Australia. Some of the major national tournaments include the annual National League, as well as the annual Namibia National Championships. In 2013, Namibia played host to the African States Tournament, a competition featuring seven countries from all over Africa. The National men's side is currently ranked 11th in the world.
Sailing
The Namibia Sailing Association is the national governing body for the sport of sailing in Namibia, serving at the discretion of the Namibian Sports Commission and recognised by World Sailing.
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