We are going for top honours Handura
THE Namibia senior women’s hockey team head coach Erwin Handura says they aim to finish in the top three at next year’s Indoor Hockey World Cup, scheduled for 2-6 February 2022 in Liege, Belgium.
This will be the sixth edition of the global competition, with Namibia having qualified for the last two successive competitions.
Speaking during a courtesy call on main sponsor MTC on Friday where they presented their Indoor Africa Hockey trophy which they had won in South Africa in April, Handura said the team has the potential to do better than their previous participations.
“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,” he added.
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 that they are hoping to play a number of high-profile friendly matches with teams like The Netherlands (currently ranked second in the world) and Belarus (third).
National team captain Maggie Mengo thanked the government and various sponsors (MTC, Standard Bank and Namdia), saying their support has made it possible for the team to achieve success. She promised that 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,” she enthused.
The 12 teams that qualified will be divided into two pools. These are Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Kazakhstan, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Ukraine, 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 placings.