Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Agnes Tjongarero says the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games Village is one of the best she has seen since the inception of the games.

She was speaking during a tour of the Village Games where she met the Namibian team while inspecting their living conditions.

“I am happy with what I saw; the conditions are very good. I spoke to the girls (Namibia netball team) and they assured me that their stay is comfortable. They also told me the food is very good. That makes me happy,” she said.

Tjongarero added that with the feedback she got from the athletes, she expects Team Namibia to win only gold and silver medals.

“I am expecting them to get the top two medals only. We are tired of the bronze medals which we harvested in Lesotho. The conditions are conducive so there will be no excuses. I want the athletes to enjoy the games, make new friends and do their best to make Namibia proud,” she said.

While touring the Games Village, Tjongarero met with the football team, the netball team and the medical team who assured her that all is set for the games.

Meanwhile, Minister Tjongarero on Thursday attended the Council of AUSC where they were expected to discuss various reports ranging from the previous games in Lesotho, the current games in Malawi and the next games scheduled for Mozambique.

“I am looking forward to the Lesotho report, and with Malawi, we are all here, let’s see what they will offer us. So far I am impressed. There have been transport challenges, but I was assured by the organisers that they are working on sorting it out,” she said.

She called on the Namibia technical officials attending the games to learn from the previous and current hosts to learn from their successes and failures to deliver the best games in 2026 scheduled for Namibia.

Tjongarero said learning from others will allow Namibia to start early with preparations and avoid unnecessary problems by the time Namibia hosts the games.

“Games like this are very important because they help us develop our young talent. Look at Christine [Mboma] and Beatrice [Masilingi]; they came through these games. I call upon all the 10 countries to put more emphasis on these games. I wish we could even accommodate the younger athletes in these games to give them the much-needed experience,” she said.

The opening ceremony of the 2022 games is scheduled for Bingu wa Mutharika Stadium on Friday at 18h00 local time.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency