The Namibia national women’s coach, Erwin Handura, says the team aims to finish in the top three at the 2022 Indoor Hockey World Cup scheduled for 02 to 06 February 2022 in Liege, Belgium.
This will be the sixth edition of the tournament and Namibia has qualified for the last two successive competitions.
Speaking during a courtesy call to main sponsor Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC) where they presented their Indoor Africa Hockey Cup which they won in South Africa in April, Handura said the team has the potential to do better than during their previous participation.
“Last time we played six games, we won two, drew two and lost two. This time around we are going for top honours. If we finish within the top six, this will allow us to automatically qualify for the next World Cup,” Handura said.
He said preparation will be key for the team to achieve its set goal of finishing in the top three.
Handura noted that last time their aim was to finish in the top eight, but they missed out by one spot to finish ninth in the 2018 tournament.
The former national team player added they are hoping to play a number of high-profile friendly matches with teams like Netherlands (currently ranked second in the world) and Belarus (third).
National team captain Magreth Mengo thanked the government and various sponsors (MTC, Standard Bank and Namdia), saying their support has made it possible for the team to achieve their success.
She said the team will go out and perform better than before.
“Top three will not be easy, but I believe with this team we will do much better. We want to improve and get a better ranking this time around,” Mengo explained.
The twelve teams that qualified will be divided into two pools. These are Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Ukraine, the United States and Namibia.
The top two in each pool qualify for the first to the fourth classification, while third and fourth qualify for the fifth to eighth classification, the last two teams will play for the last four placing.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
