Zagreb: Namibia’s men and women national hockey teams on Friday failed to advance to the semifinals of the 2025 International Hockey Federation (FIH) Indoor World Cup, after losing to Belgium and Austria respectively. In the women’s match, the first few minutes of the first half were not action-packed until the Austrians opened the scoring through Katharina Proksch.

According to Namibia Press Agency, as the battle progressed, Petro Stoffberg made several important saves to prevent Austria from scoring more goals in the first half of the encounter. After a dull first five minutes into the second half, Marie Hahnenkamp converted a chance from a penalty corner, before Daria Buchta scored Austria’s third goal. The game picked up momentum which saw Namibia pull one back through Kiana-Che Cormack. The Namibians found themselves in real trouble as Katharina Bauer scored her first of the match for the Eastern Europeans moments before her teammate Buchta scored her second of the match to finish the game 5-1, in favor of Austria.

‘I was very proud of my girls the first half and unfortunately the second half wasn’t good enough,’ Shayne Cormack, the women’s coach reflected in a post-match interview.

In the men’s encounter, the Namibian ladies witnessed the men’s team fight from 7-1 down to 7-6, proving the match to be a mouthwatering event. ‘We were totally out of the game until halftime. We had to again make those crucial changes and get into their heads that they can do it. And what a performance in the last 10 [minutes]. I’m very proud of the boys and the achievement,’ the men’s coach Trevor Cormack expressed after the match.

Two of Namibia’s goals were scored by Fagan Hansen, with John-Paul Britz also scoring a brace. Pieter Jacobs and David Britz scored the other two goals. The games played in Croatia were broadcast live on television.