Erwin Naimhwaka, president of Athletics Namibia (AN), has said more stakeholders, partners and the corporate world are needed in maintaining athletes’ performances while competing in the country and abroad.

Naimhwaka, the former national 400-metre champion who was elected as president of AN in November 2016, and retained the position 2020, told Nampa on Wednesday that at the moment AN needs to capitalise on the performances of athletes who qualified for the Olympic Games.

“Beatrice Masilingi and Christine Mboma have shown that one does not need to go out of the country to be the best, they made their names at home before showing the world what Namibian athletes are made of,” he said.

Naimhwaka added that AN has always worked hard to set up platforms where Namibians can showcase their talent, but lack of funds has always hampered their plans.

“We need to start hosting more local events where athletes can showcase their talents and apart from the two young girls who have been making headlines, we have the likes of Helalia Johannes and Reinhold Thomas who have been flying the flag high at a number of international competitions. We, therefore, hope that the current performances can be used as inspiration by others as we continue to transform as AN,” he said.

The president also echoed that if more stakeholders, partners and the corporate world start supporting AN’s programmes, more talents will be discovered and ultimately exposed to international competitions with the best in the world.

He also said: “It is important for Namibia to build on the current wave that athletes have created.”

The last time Team Namibia had an athlete competing in track and field events at the Olympics was in 1996 when Frankie Fredericks competed in Atlanta in the United States of America.

Mboma and Masilingi who compete in 200m and 400m will now break a 25-year-old absence of track and field athletes when they represent Team Namibia at this year’s Olympic Games.

Source: Namibia Press Agency