A gala dinner held at Otjiwarongo on Tuesday raised nearly N.dollars 470 000 in cash and pledges for the 2023 Namibian Newspaper Cup.

The Newspaper Cup is set to take place at the Paresis Sports Stadium in Otjiwarongo from 07 to 10 April.

Otjozondjupa Governor, James Uerikua at the event said a total of N.dollars 800 000 is needed for the hosting of the tournament.

“We expect about 730 football and netball participants as well as their officials from the 14 regions, and this money generated at the gala dinner will be used to prepare for the games,” said Uerikua.

The Otjiwarongo Municipality pledged the highest amount of N.dollars 200 000 at the dinner, followed by the Central North Regional Electricity Distributors (Cenored) with N.dollars 90 000.

The 21st edition of the Namibian Newspaper Cup was officially launched at Otjiwarongo on 07 March 2023.

The newspaper’s deputy news editor, Isack Hamata at the launch said the tournament aims to help boys and girls have the opportunity to enjoy sports, and also to identify and develop their talents.

He said the winning football team, besides the floating trophy and medals, will receive N.dollars 30 000, while the runners-up get N.dollars 20 000 and third-placed team, N.dollars 16 000.

“Netball’s overall winning team will receive N.dollars 25 000, second place N.dollars 12 000, third N.dollars 6 250 and fourth best, a cash reward of N.dollars 3 125,” said Hamata.

A draw for different groups was also conducted where the defending champions of the cup, the Zambezi Region, was drawn against the Khomas Region for the first match. Netball’s defending champions, the Khomas Region, will face off against Ohangwena on day one of the tournament.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency