Namibian boxers bagged five medals on the final day of the boxing competition at the 2022 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 games in Lilongwe, Malawi on Friday.

Going into Friday’s competitions, Namibia was already assured of four bronze medals as Monika Kambonde (52 kilogramme weight category); Lusia Hifikwa (54.5kg); Thomas Ishidimbwa (51kg) and Richard Hubertus (58kg) had all confirmed their bronze medals following their defeats in the semi-finals on Thursday.

Last year’s bronze medallist Alfeus Modina struck gold when he dominated Botswana’s Mmoloki Sekwaipe to win the gold medal in the 63.5 kilogrammes (kg) weight category.

Meanwhile, in athletics, Lahja Iipinge grabbed her second gold medal of the competition when she came first in the 200 metre T12 in a time of 12.95 seconds (s).

She was inspired by Lowisa Shehama, who had earlier on grabbed a silver medal in the T11 200m race, his second of the games, with Alessandra Kaura adding a silver medal to her collection as she finished second in the girls’ 100m hurdles competition with a time of 15.75s.

Shehama’s time was not available due to technical glitches.

Josia Katroli became the first Namibian athlete to win a field medal when he jumped 1.85 metres in the boys’ high jump to claim a bronze medal.

And finally, in netball, Namibia finished fifth following their 46-40 victory over Botswana (who ended sixth and without a victory at the games) in the fifth/sixth playoff match at the Griffin Saenda Indoor Netball Complex.

South Africa won gold following their 66-16 victory over Zambia, who settled for silver, followed by Zimbabwe who took gold after narrowly beating hosts Malawi 46-44.

Malawi took the fourth position.

In total, Namibia won nine medals on Friday – two gold, two silver and five bronze.

Overall Namibia now has 34 medals comprising four gold, 10 silver and 20 bronze medals.

Day three of the track and field competition commenced Saturday morning with the fifth session, while the sixth session is expected to begin after lunch.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency